Mobius: The Final Stand Part 3
by Ravenskid0206
Summary: Directly follows the events of "Mobius: The Final Stand Part 2"
1. Chapter 1

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 47

Cream's house

9:20 pm

Everyone from the "Sonic" gang was gathered at Cream's house, relaxing and lounging on the sofas or chairs in the living room, talking avidly amongst each other. The general atmosphere was one of relief and happiness, everyone thankful that Sonic, Knuckles, and Raymond managed to carry out and execute their "rescue" mission with great success. Thankfully, none of them was severely injured; just a couple of cuts and bruises to treat…

Sonic was lying on one of the chairs, being enthusiastically attended to by Amy. A few bandages and stitches covered most of his wounds, maaybe a little more than was necessary…

"See?" Sonic exclaimed, sarcastically indignant. "I toldja there was really nothing to worry about Ames!" He casually assured Amy, who was in the process of caring for a large gash that ran down the side of his thigh.

"I know…" Amy sighed caringly. "I'm just worried for you, that's all…"

Sonic flashed a grin. "No problem! I appreciate your kindness and caring!" He thanked Amy gratefully, wincing a bit as she applied alcohol to his cut.

As Sonic and Amy continued to talk to each other, possibly developing and starting a new relationship with each other, Knuckles, Raymond, and Galaxina were relaxing on the couch, chatting with each other. Raymond had an icepack wrapped tightly to the side of his head while Knuckles didn't have any bandages, fervently insisting that he didn't need them…

"…So then, me and Raymond were climbing the wall of the base, trying to stay invisible, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant robot shows up and started to attack us!" Knuckles tried to explain the story of how they managed to sneak into Eggman's base to Galaxina. "You know of course, Raymond was too scared to fight it because it was so powerful, but I, KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA-"

"Hey! That's not what happened!" Raymond cut in, desperately trying to prevent Knuckles from continuing his story.

"Ahem." Knuckles coughed crossly, silencing Raymond. "So as I was saaaying before SOMEONE interrupted… I, KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA, singlehandedly defeated the gigantic monster while catching Raymond as he slipped and fell off of the rope and-"

"Oh yeah, and you did that while balancing a plate of eggs on your head while singing the ABC's…" Raymond sarcastically retorted as Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Haters… always trying to tear you down…" Knuckles whispered to Galaxina who was trying her best not to giggle. She had one hand covering her mouth, attempting to cover the fact that she was smiling, finding Knuckles' story to quite amusing…

"Oh dear… that sounds pretty dangerous! Are you sure you're okay after doing all that?" Galaxina asked Knuckles in mock sincerity.

Knuckles furiously nodded. "Yep! But RAYMOND here on the other hand…." Knuckles good naturedly shoved Raymond who laughed and retaliated by shoving Knuckles back.

Galaxina rolled her eyes and smirked. "Let me guess, Raymond ran away in fear while you destroyed everyone 'single-handedly' and became the hero of the day, right?"

"Hey, how did you know that!" Knuckles asked in surprise as Raymond snorted.

"I apparently didn't do ANYTHING?" Raymond asked Knuckles in mock despair, who in response vigorously shook his head.

Raymond laughed and sighed, leaning back on the couch. Next to him, Galaxina giggled and hugged him from the side, squeezing him tightly.

"Well to me, you'll ALWAYS my hero!" Galaxina cheerfully told Raymond, smiling warmly.

"Thanks!" Raymond shrugged and laughed again…

As Raymond, Knuckles, and Galaxina continued their entertaining conversation, outside the house on the deck, Tails and Cosmo were standing next to each other, holding hands. They were silently looking up at the night sky, gazing at the stars and moon in awe. Their hair whipped past their faces as the gentle summer breeze blew by.

"Wow… its really beautiful looking at the stars at night…" Tails trailed off, still in wonder of the majestic sight he saw before him…

Cosmo smiled and nodded. "Mhm! Back when I was a little girl on the ship with my parents and family, I used to love gazing out the windows, staring at the many stars as they passed…"

"Yeah…" Tails trailed off into silence as he suddenly had a thought. "Remember the time back when we had that party aboard the Blue Typhoon?" Tails suddenly asked Cosmo curiously.

"Yep! It was one of the best moments of my life; I loved the times where I could spend time with you back then…. Why?" Cosmo innocently replied, asking Tails a question in return.

"Well… remember when we were looking at the stars that night, and I said how I thought the stars were really beautiful?" Tails asked Cosmo now blushing a little bit.

"Yeah…?"

"Well…" Tails hesitated, blushing heavily. "You know... I… I..."

"You what, Tails?" Cosmo asked, now interested in what Tails was getting at.

"I.. uh.. never.. really.. said… that…" Tails managed to spit out.

"What do you mean?"

"I…" Tails sighed and uneasily scratched the back of his head. "Well… I didn't say the stars were beautiful… I actually said YOU were beautiful, but I guess you misheard me…" Tails nervously chuckled a little bit.

"You… you did?" Cosmo asked Tails who nodded, still blushing very heavily. "Aww! That's so sweet of you to say Tails!"She wrapped him in a big embrace, closing her eyes and nuzzling her face in Tails' muzzle, smiling contentedly.

"Heh… well at the time, I really wanted to express how special you really were to me, but I guess I was a bit too nervous and embarrassed to truly admit it… embarrassed that you maybe wouldn't feel the same way…" Tails looked a little downcast now, kicking the ground with one of his sneakers.

"Tails… I felt the same way too you know! But I was too scared to think that you wouldn't like me either… That you would think that I was annoying…" Cosmo softly replied, also seeming a bit depressed.

"You? Annoying? Never!" Tails looked shocked after hearing Cosmo say that. "You're the best thing that's EVER happened to me! I would NEVER think that you were or are annoying Cosmo!" Tails cheerfully responded, prompting a big smile from Cosmo.

"And why would you ever possible think that I wouldn't love you Tails? All the way from your cute smile to your soft twin tails, I love every single thing about you so much as well!" Cosmo sweetly replied, smiling prettily at Tails.

"Hehe.. you really think I'm cute?" Tails blushed, drawing another smile from Cosmo.

"Nah, 'cute' doesn't describe you well enough… they haven't invented a word to truly depict your cuteness yet!" Cosmo smirked slightly as she playfully reached out and cuddled one of Tails' tails, delicately rubbing it against her face.

Tails nearly fainted when he felt Cosmo's soft face gently rub against his tail. Amusedly seeing Tails' uneasiness, Cosmo slyly crept up to Tails, and leaned her face towards his. When she was close enough, she brushed her eyelashes against his eyelids and fluttered them a few times.

"C-Cosmo! T-That t-tickles!" Tails started to laugh uncontrollably, much to the amusement of Cosmo. "Hey! C-Cut it o-out!"

Cosmo smirked at Tails' reaction to her butterfly kiss. "Can you say 'please'?"

"P-P-Please?" Tails still continued to laugh hysterically.

"Huh? I didn't hear you Tails!" Cosmo continued her attack on Tails.

"Haha! Please!" Tails managed to sputter.

Cosmo giggled and finally released Tails from his 'torture'. "Whew… even I have to admit I enjoyed that!" Tails comically told Cosmo.

Cosmo giggled again, then resumed looking back up at the night sky, holding Tails' hands.

"I love spending time with you so much Tails..." Cosmo breathed, trailing off.

"Just like how I love YOU!" Tails wittily replied, smirking.

"Nuhuh, I love YOU more!" Cosmo responded, smirking as well.

"Oh really, prove it then!" Tails jokingly replied, but was surprised when Cosmo suddenly leaned over and kissed him deeply. They remained kissing, their lips touching each other's lips, moving their arms to embrace each other as well.

Finally when they broke away, Cosmo smiled at Tails and said:

"Does that prove to you how much I love you?"

Tails smiled back in return. "Yeah… Well… I guess it's my turn then!"

The two of them leaned over and kissed again, this time not letting go, staying interlocked, forever and ever…


	2. Chapter 2

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 48

Cream's house

9:35 pm

Tails' and Cosmo's romantic moment outside, enjoying the late summer night, was cut short when Sonic's voice shattered the silence.

"Tails! Cosmo! Get over here, now!" Sonic sharply called out to the two of them from inside the house. Startled by Sonic's sudden outburst, Tails and Cosmo quickly broke away from their kiss and dashed inside the house in concern. As they entered, they immediately saw something was wrong. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Raymond, and Galaxina were all seated around the living room table. They each had a grim look on their face, some of them even looking fearful.

"Guys? What's wrong?" Tails nervously asked, deeply worried.

"Eggman…he—" Sonic stopped in midsentence as the phone on the side table next to the couch Sonic was sitting on suddenly rang. He leaned over and picked it up, holding to the side of his face.

"Yes, hello?... Yes…. Yeah… I know….. I am aware of that, sir… yes….. don't worry, we'll be there shortly…" Sonic's one-sided conversation with whoever was on the other side broke off as he set the phone back down on its case. He gave a long sigh, and turned to address the group once more.

"Guys, I've just been told by the mayor that Eggman's just recently launched a siege against Mobius City. He's surrounded them with TONS of his robots, trapping the citizens inside. We've got to go help them now before something happens!" Sonic seemed almost desperate and tired as he commandingly told the rest of them.

"He has?" Tails blurted out in surprise. "Didn't he JUST try to hold me, Cosmo, and Galaxina as prisoners? And only a couple hours later, he's at it again?"

Sonic nodded with a serious expression on his face. "It's no doubt that he'd try something like an "all-out-attack" right after he's tired us out and weakened us…"

"But we can't let THAT stop us, right?" Raymond leapt up from the couch, clenching one fist in an act of defiance. Knuckles stood up and joined him as well, crossing his arms and grinning fearlessly.

"It's time we end this "Eggman" thing once and for all guys!" Knuckles heroically shouted, jabbing at the air in front of his face to emphasize his point.

"Just in case you haven't forgotten… We barely made it out of Eggman's base alive!" Here Sonic looked pointedly at Raymond, who in return tried to look away. Coincidentally his eyes met Galaxina's eyes for a second, and as she gazed at him, her eyes full of worry and fear, Raymond blushed and looked at his feet in silence.

"Why are you so worried and so… apprehensive all the time these days?" Amy spoke up, breaking the awkward silence, questioning Sonic's leadership.

"Yeah…. I've kind of noticed that too…" Knuckles agreed with Amy's question. "And I know it's not just because you're concerned for our safety, or that Eggman isn't 'the same as before' or whatever you keep making up! Seriously, why the…. the negativity really?" Knuckles frowned and crossed his arms, turning to face Sonic.

"Well…" Sonic looked down at his feet and sighed. Finally after a moment or so, he looked back up at the group, seemingly tired and worn out. "It's because of something I learned against the Meterex…."

"What do you mean, Sonic?" This time Tails asked a question, curious of what Sonic was getting at.

"I… I learned that… that even when I tried my best… that it wasn't enough…" Sonic gave another long sigh. "Even when I was super Sonic, I was defeated… And realizing that cost the life of one of my friends… That's why I try to be more careful.. that's all…" Sonic shut his eyes and lowered his head again in shame.

"Oh Sonic…" Amy started in distress.

"I mean… I know you guys are more than capable of handling yourselves in a battle… but what would I do if I lost another one of you guys? How do you think I'd feel?"

"Sonic…" Amy sighed. "You're the BEST leader anyone could ever ask for!" She looked around the room as everyone started to slowly nod their heads in agreement. "It really means something that you're worried about us, and we… I appreciate that! But we can't afford for you to stop now! You set an example by your fearlessness and courage in battle, and we need you to continue doing that! And now, when it matters the most, we desperately need you to step up and lead us to victory!"

"Amen!" Knuckles again soundly agreed with Amy. "Come on! Let's go to Mobius City and see what Eggman's up to!" Knuckles loudly responded, still fired up about another chance to pound some of Eggman's robots again.

"Well…." Sonic slowly nodded and smiled. "Thanks guys! You're right, I need to be the one that encourages and sets the tone for the rest of us."

"I agree with all of you!" Tails jumped up from the couch as well. "There's no reason for us to hide while Eggman's off attacking innocent people! No matter what, it's our duty to step it up and act like the heroes we know we are! I say we go and fight Eggman too!" Tails boldly replied, eyes alight with courage, drawing proud smiles from Sonic and Cosmo.

"Hehe… that's my hero!" Cosmo thought to herself, smiling at Tails.

"…What about you, Raymond?" Everyone turned to look at Raymond, who was still staring at his shoes in deep thought.

"Well I… yeah… we should go… and fight… yeah…" Raymond muttered under his breath, not seemingly aware that everyone was watching him.

"You alright there Raymond?" Sonic asked in concern for his friend, frowning. Raymond sharply looked up at Sonic and managed a lopsided smile.

"Yeah… I'm fine. I said I agree with Knuckles too…." Raymond trailed off and turned to gaze out the window at the crescent moon that shone brightly across the night sky.

Sonic shrugged and sighed. "Amy? Cream? Cosmo? Galaxina?" He asked the four girls who were sitting on the couch opposite of him.

Cream was the first one to speak up. "I agree with Knuckles too! I think Eggman deserves to pay for all the horrible things he's done, like kidnapping Tails and Cosmo and Galaxina!" She courageously voiced her opinion.

"Chao!" Cheese, her blue chao, agreed with her.

"Cream, where is your mother by the way?" Knuckles asked Cream curiously, remembering that he hadn't seen Vanilla in a week now.

"She's gone and visited Vector and the Chaotix. You know how we live in the South-east and they live way up in the North past Mobius City…"

"Oh yeah! The Chaotix! Maybe we could ask them for help too!" Tails encouragingly shouted, grinning, but he was quickly interrupted by Sonic.

"We don't have all day guys! Amy…?" He continued to ask everyone what they suggested they do.

"You know how I think of Eggman…." Amy simply replied, her piko-piko hammer suddenly appearing in one hand, casually resting on one shoulder in a menacing looking way.

"In my opinion, I say that Tails is right! We can't leave innocent people to die to Eggman's robots!" Cosmo quietly but valiantly voiced her own opinion.

"And I agree that there's simply no reason for us to not help them…." Galaxina looked at Raymond, who was still silently gazing out the window, seemingly thinking about something.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go already!" Sonic shouted as all of them cheered, and started to quickly head out the door, no time to waste. As they filed out, Galaxina was about to leave the house when she noticed Raymond walking slowly behind her, looking down at his feet.

"Something on your mind, Raymond?" Galaxina asked him, worried for his well-being.

Raymond shrugged. "Well…" he sighed. "Don't you sometimes just wish that all the fighting in the world would just end? That we'd actually be able to enjoy a life of peace and happiness without the worry of losing someone in a battle? Don't you ever feel that way?"

"Oh I see…" Galaxina slowly nodded, looking deeply into Raymond's eyes. "You're right, sometimes I wish that too… But I know that the reason we're fighting now is so that we can defeat evil so that there wouldn't need to be anymore worry for war. That's the reason we fight, right?" She glanced back at him, searching for an answer or response in his facial features.

"Yeah… I guess you're right…" Raymond sighed. "It's just that sometimes I'm just really sick and tired of all this though… Because I feel like it NEVER ends; the fighting I mean… I've been doing it my whole life, and it doesn't seem like I've made ANY progress at all. No matter how many times I win, it doesn't matter because evil just seems to keep bouncing back and attacking again."

"So that's why we need to keep on retaliating and fighting back, right? You have the ability to; I know you do. I believe in you, Raymond… I won't give up on you… Just keep on having faith that one day, evil will be defeated once and for all, and you'll finally be able to be at peace… But until then, we just have to keep on holding on and fighting for what's right and good!"

"Mhm…" Raymond nodded and smiled. "I didn't know you were so good at speaking and encouraging people, Galaxina! Maybe you should lead us instead!" Raymond laughed good naturedly.

Galaxina smiled back in return. "It's nothing special Raymond. I'm just speaking from my heart… I care about you, and I'm worried for you… that's all…"

Raymond laughed again and shrugged. "Well you definitely inspired me! Come on, let's not keep them waiting!" Raymond and Galaxina headed out of the house into the cool night, slowly shutting the door closed behind them. As they trod their way down the dirt path that led towards Mobius City to catch up with the group, behind them, a brown leaf lazily fell from a tree and floated gently onto the ground, marking the end of summer and the beginning of fall…


	3. Chapter 3

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 49

Mobius City

10:03 pm

CRASH!

The sound of hundreds of Eggman's "scorpion-like" robots hurtling through the forest and trees that surrounded the main city very loudly resonated throughout the air. Startled, nearby citizens immediately stopped what they were doing, and nervously huddled together in fear.

CRASH! CLANG!

On the busy roads, cars came rolling to a stop as their passengers got out to look where the commotion was coming from. The atmosphere was filled with fear and tension as everyone anxiously and wildly looked around for the source of the loud noise.

…

Now silence dominated the entire city as everyone waited and braced themselves for whatever was coming their way…

CLANG!

A shrill scream penetrated the quiet as someone screamed at the top of their lungs. Right at that moment…

CRASH!

The scorpion like robots barged their way through the city walls, shredding them like Swiss cheese. As the limestone blocks tumbled down to the earth, revealing Eggman's gruesome army, Eggman himself seemed to appear out of nowhere in the late night sky in his Eggcarrier.

"Greeting! Citizens of Mobius City! It is I! King Eggman! I've warned you before! This night marks the start of the NEW EGGMAN EMPIRE! Mwahahaha!" Eggman threw his head back and laughed, loudly proclaiming his victory to the heavens. His black glasses gleamed in the city lights as he drew a hand back over his head and pounded it on his dashboard.

"OPEN FIRE!" Eggman yelled to his minions.

The scorpions that surrounded the city from every angle possible all raised their razor sharp tails over their heads and pointed their guns at nearby civilians, who in return screamed and rushed to get away from the monsters. As the city was filled with the sounds of machine guns being loaded into place, another noise joined them…

"WAHOO!" A blue blur streaking across the night sky at unimaginably high speeds slammed right into two scorpions, destroying them on impact. As the dust and debris from the resulting explosion cleared away, Sonic the hedgehog walked out of it, head held high, proudly grinning.

"Grrrr…!" Eggman cursed when he noticed Sonic attack his robots. "SP-389 and 392, eliminate that accursed hedgehog!"

Two scorpions on either side of Sonic turned their machine guns and were about to open fire on him when out of nowhere, two more red anamorphic beings seemed to jump down on top of the scorpions from the night sky and smash right through them.

"Thought you might need us to watch your back, Sonic!"

"After all, we wouldn't want you to get hurt now would we?"

Sonic grinned and turned to look at Raymond to his right, and then Knuckles at his left.

"Try to leave some robots for me to destroy, alright guys?" Sonic jokingly asked the two of them.

"We'll see…."

"Come on, let's annihilate Eggman now!"

"Hehehe…." Sonic, Knuckles, and Raymond sharply looked above their heads to see Eggman snickering at them in amusement.

"Sonic! Knuckles! Raymond! I was so worried that you guys would never show up! But now that you're here, let the party begin!" Eggman pushed a button on his dashboard, and instantly, all the scorpion robots started to move forward, tightening their circle around the city. Sonic, Knuckles, and Raymond began to slowly step backwards, away from the menacing robots. Behind them, some city guards armed with guns and other weapons started to form a circle stop the robots from advancing forwards.

Eggman laughed evilly again. "You think you actually have a chance of winning? It's more than 700 of my superior robots against you three and a measly party of defenders!"

"Make that four!" Amy's voice pierced the air as the pink hedgehog appeared by Sonic's side from the crowd of civilians. She hefted her piko-hammer over one shoulder and shook a fist at Eggman.

"I'd like to see YOU come down here and fight, Eggman!" Amy defiantly shouted, but to no avail.

"Heh… where's the rest of your miserable group, Sonic? Hiding at home?" Eggman taunted, trying to anger Sonic into doing something rash.

"Actually…" Sonic smirked. "I figured that the safest area to be when fighting you Eggman is right on the battlefield because we all know you never pose a real threat…" Cream and Galaxina appeared from inside the crowd, standing rebelliously in front of Eggman and his robots, in the face of danger. Sonic's face wore a scowl as he and his friends formed one single line, and took a step forwards towards the scorpions. The noise of applause and cheering sounded behind them as the citizens grew encouraged by their appearance.

"Ha! You don't think I pose a threat? Well, let's just wait and see!" Eggman furiously responded, wildly typing on his dashboard. Below him, the scorpions started to slowly move towards Mobius City. As their metallic feet rumbled the ground, they increased their speed until they were charging at full speed right at Sonic and his friends.

Acknowledging that he had only a few more moments until the battle would inevitably start, Sonic turned behind him to look at the smiling and grinning faces of his friends.

"It makes me proud to see all of you guys not back down from danger… I'm honored to have such great and loyal friends like you… It's really been an honor knowing you guys…" Sonic proudly declared.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, stop talking like that Sonic! You don't have to thank us! We're proud to have a great leader and fight alongside him! Let's got show Eggman what courage and friendship really means!" Amy replied, her eyes alight with bravery.

"Yeah, let's!" Raymond broke off into a running sprint, followed by Sonic, Knuckles, and the rest, including the city guards. Only Galaxina stayed back because she couldn't fight, and Sonic and Raymond didn't want her to get hurt.

"Please be alright…" Galaxina whispered to herself as she crossed her arms and watched on nervously.

The charging invaders and defenders met in the middle on the borders of the city as they clashed. The air immediately rung with gun fire, explosions, and metallic screeches as Sonic and his friends rushed to take out as many scorpions as they could. The other defenders tried their best to protect the city by bravely holding their ground and firing into the crowd of robots. Several scorpions were downed as the initial stage of the battle seemed to work in favor of the encouraged defenders.

However, the scorpions' numbers began to quickly show as they started to gain an advantage. Every one of them that was destroyed, three more took its place, pushing back and repelling the thin line of Mobius' army. Screams of wounded guards rung out as they were shot by the scorpions' machine guns or stabbed by their sharp tails. As the invaders kept on killing and pushing back the guards, the tide very quickly turned in Eggman's favor.

"RRGHH!" Amy growled as she swung her hammer into the head of a scorpion, turning it into a pancake. Next to her, Knuckles did basically the same, except using his two fists to pound the circuitry out of the robot's head. Nearby, Raymond leapt deftly around, firing his needle-like bullets from his wristband into the necks of the scorpions. As they staggered around, he burnt them with streams of flame, quickly moving on to the next robot.

As Sonic finished off his thirteenth robot, he looked around to see his friends desperately fighting to hold the scorpions back. To the other side of him, the city guards were literally being mauled as they were being repelled back several yards. Many of them were killed already, at least 30 of the original 200 or so. Sonic did a very rough estimate of the scorpion like robots, finding it to still be at least 650.

"Retreat!" Sonic yelled at the top of his lungs. "Guys! We can't afford to hold them here anymore! Retreat!"

Raymond did a double take in the middle of scorching another scorpion. "Retreat? I thought… We just—"

"We're being annihilated! We're losing! Badly! We're WAY too overstretched out here! We need to retreat back to the city so we can form another, more compact line!"

Raymond shrugged, and turned to his friends. "Come on guys! Didn't you hear what Sonic said? We've got to retreat before they swarm all over us!" He, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream all backed off and slowly stepped backwards towards Mobius City. On the other side, the guards did the same, as the fighting slowly halted.

Above in his Eggcarrier, Eggman looked casually at his watch. "Barely two minutes, and you're already retreating?" He ridiculed Sonic and his friends.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly at that moment, the sound of a plane flying at high speeds filled the air. Once it reached right above Mobius City, it started to open fire on the scorpions below, devastating their ranks with lasers and rockets. Explosions sounded as many of the scorpions were instantly obliterated, debris of scrap metal flying everywhere. Eggman furiously tried to take cover from the onslaught of fire. As the plane zoomed past, everyone could see Tails and Cosmo in the cockpit of the X-tornado, flashing a thumbs up at the city below.

Rejuvenated, the defenders began to applaud and cheer again, chanting Tails' name loudly.

"T! A! I! L! TAILS! TAILS! TAILS!" Sonic flashed a grin back at Tails as the plane sharply banked to its right and came back around to fire again at the scorpions. Again, lasers filled the air as the robots were annihilated from above, the lasers ripping right through their armor and weapons.

"Yeeahh!" Raymond shouted as he sprinted back out at the scorpions again, firing his needle bullets at the robots. This time, it was Eggman who ordered a retreat, furious that he hadn't invented a defense mechanism on his robots against aerial attacks. As the now only 400 or so scorpion robots turned around and hurried out of the city, all of the citizens now rushed fearlessly towards them, cheering and shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Run and hide Eggman!"

"Go home and never come back!"

"Good always defeats evil!"

Sonic slowed his sprint down into a slow walk as people rushed by him, all yelling bravely. He smiled: This is what the sound of victory sounded like…

Meanwhile, Tails landed the X-tornado down on one of the streets in Mobius City. As he opened the cockpit and stepped out, he was instantly mobbed by hundreds of relieved and fired up civilians.

"T! A! I! L! TAILS! TAILS! TAILS"! They formed a huge crowd next to the X-tornado, carrying him on their shoulders.

"Woah hey!" Tails tried to protest. As he tried to set himself down back on his feet, he was engulfed from all sides by random people hugging him and shaking his hands.

"Sonic? Knuckles? Raymond? Help meee!" Tails called out, desperately seeking his friends. Immediately, they were at his sides, trying their best to push back the hysterical crowd so that Tails could have some room.

"Tails! You did it! You beat Eggman singlehandedly!" Raymond shouted, grinning widely.

"Me? I…"

"If it hadn't been for you Tails, today undoubtedly would have gone down as an Eggman victory…" Knuckles added, complementing Tails.

"Well you guys were the real heroes because-"

"You saved Mobius City today Tails, I'm proud of you!" Sonic warmly smiled and patted Tails on the shoulder.

"I…." Tails smiled. "I guess I did, didn't I? Wow… this feels.. so…."

"Feels good doesn't it? Well, you deserve it all! You saved the day! I couldn't have asked for a better sidekick!" Sonic grinned at Tails, who in return rushed over and hugged Sonic tightly.

"And I couldn't have asked for a better hero! Thanks Sonic…" Tails smiled, and stepped back to view the crowd of civilians surrounding the four of them, waiting expectantly for him to say something.

"Psst! Tails! Aren't you gonna say anything?" Knuckles nudged Tails, who jumped, startled.

"Oh yeah! Well umm…." Tails nervously addressed the hundreds of people listening intently. "I… It's all because of your guys' bravery in standing in the face of danger against Eggman that inspired me to do the same… All of you… every single one… all are heroes too… I couldn't have asked for a better city to save... so thank you…" Tails trailed off as a cheer rose up from the crowd.

"Thanks to our great friend, Tails, beating Eggman would have been impossible!" Here, Sonic turned to address the crowd as Tails slipped past the crowd of people towards the X-tornado, receiving pats on the shoulder from everyone. As he continued to make his way through the crowd, he finally arrived at the original location where he had parked it. Here on the outskirts of the city, silence reigned as no one was here, everyone in the middle listening to Sonic's speech. He clambered up on one of the wings, when suddenly he was hugged from behind and received a warm kiss on the back of his neck.

Tails turned to look at his smiling girlfriend as they seated themselves on the edge of the wing of the X-Tornado. "Hi Cosmo! We… really did it you know.. We saved the city! Wow… being a hero gets a lot to get used to!"

Cosmo giggled. "I didn't do anything Tails… you did it all! You deserve all the credit not me…" Cosmo warmly smiled at Tails, gently placing one hand on the side of his muzzle.

Tails smirked. "You know… I couldn't have done it if it hadn't been for your support! I… I really did it for you, Cosmo! I couldn't bear the thought of you being taken by Eggman again, so I knew I had to defeat Eggman so that you could be safe…"

"Awww… that's really sweet of you to say Tails!" Cosmo sweetly replied, leaning over and giving Tails a warm kiss on his muzzle. "And you should know I feel 100 percent safe with you protecting me, Tails. No matter what!"

"Hehe…" Tails blushed and smiled. Then he tilted his head back and smiled, gazing into the night sky, seeming to search for something among the twinkling stars. "Then I promise that no matter what, in this war against Eggman, I'll try my upmost best to make sure you're safe!"

Cosmo giggled again. "You don't have to promise that, Tails… I already know you will…"

Tails blushed again and nervously scratched the back of his head. "Heh… yeah well.. you know…" Tails giggled along with Cosmo.

Cosmo sighed and rested a head on Tails' shoulders, slowly shutting her eyes tiredly. "You're my hero Tails… I love you…" She slowly fell asleep like that as Tails smiled warmly and wrapped an arms around her shoulders, protectively watching over her. The sounds of the city faintly died away as the citizens retired to their own homes. A slight breeze whipped past Tails' face as he too, rested his head against Cosmo's, falling into a deep sleep as well…


	4. Chapter 4

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 50

Mobius City

11:26 pm

"…thank you for listening everybody!" Sonic bowed as thunderous applause sounded through the city streets and cut. He grinned and looked at the crowd of smiling faces, barely visible in the night, motivated with their recent victory against Eggman. As the city lights dimly gleamed around Sonic, behind him, Knuckles intentionally coughed, just loud enough to get Sonic's attention.

"What is it?" Sonic cocked an ear towards the red echidna questioningly.

"Amy just told me a few moments ago that the mayor would like to have a word with us. Like, right now, Sonic." Knuckles blankly replied, turning to leave. Acknowledging this, Sonic slowly nodded, and flashed a thumbs up at the crowd before dashing to catch up with Knuckles. The two of them made their made through the multitude of citizens, who in return were leaving to return to their homes.

"Amy told you? What did she say specifically?" Sonic questioned Knuckles, who in response shrugged.

"That's what she said: That the mayor wants a quick word with us…"

Sonic looked back over his shoulder at the group of citizens. "What about Tails? Cosmo? Raymond? Cream? Galaxina? Where are they?"

"They're probably already there, waiting for us… Let's hurry up already!" Knuckles impatiently started to jog to the center of the city, Sonic keeping pace with him. They shivered as an unnaturally chilly wind breezed by themselves, crossing their arms to keep themselves warm. The night was quiet as the two friends continued to make their way through the empty city streets…

(Mobius City: Mayor's office)

"…unusually cold weather and cold fronts point towards…. there have been multiple reports of an unnatural… At least ten feet of…." The TV clicked on and off as Raymond pressed the power button on the remote repeatedly in boredom. Nearby, Amy, Cream, and Galaxina lounged on the sofas that littered the room in front of the mayor's desk. Paintings of important people decorated the otherwise blank walls, and an elaborate chandelier hung from the ceiling. The mayor himself was seated behind his desk, furiously scribbling something on a sheet of paper in front of him. Every so often, he would stop writing and look up at the ceiling as if in deep thought, until a few seconds later when he continued his scribbling. Amy impatiently toyed with the end of her piko-hammer, waiting for Sonic and Knuckles to appear. Cream smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress, and Galaxina tried her best to stay awake, slowly nodding off, resting her head on Raymond's shoulder.

The mayor was an old, gray barn owl that wore a gold-ringed monocle. He was pretty large for his species however, nearly standing as tall as Raymond or Galaxina. His beak was viciously hooked, his gleaming, pearly white talons scratching at the oaken desk whenever he made a slight movement.

Suddenly, footsteps pounded on the carpeted floor as Sonic and Knuckles appeared in the doorway.

The mayor looked up at them with interest, temporarily stopping his mysterious writing. "Great, now that you two have joined us, I can begin my speech."

Sonic and Knuckles silently seated themselves on the chairs, everyone intently listening to what the mayor had planned to say.

"Well as you know, I've been mayor of this proud city for 6 years now. And doing so hasn't always been easy with Eggman and his minions terrorizing us every so often. But it's usually been no problem because every time, he's been easily defeated without much problem, so he's really more of a nuisance than a threat. But after tonight, I've rethought that: he's killed 36 of our guards, and wounded 2 more. And that was only in the span of two minutes! If it hadn't been for your friend Tails… Where is he by the way?"

Sonic looked around the room and shrugged. "I don't know; where is he?"

Raymond yawned, trying his best to stay awake with Galaxina peacefully sleeping on his shoulder. "I… don't know either… maybe they're already at home sleeping…"

The mayor coughed politely and continued. "Well no matter, as I was saying: after our incredibly close call tonight, Eggman seems to be at it with much more power than ever! He almost won, even with YOU, Sonic. This looks like it's going to be a long war; I highly doubt Eggman is going to stop now that he knows we're vulnerable, so I wanted to ask your opinion on creating an army to assist you in this conflict."

"Creating an army?" Sonic did a slight double take. "But sir, with all due respect, we—"

"—We almost lost? Trust me Sonic when I say I have full confidence that you won't give up until Eggman is finally defeated once and for all. But I thought it would be better for the sake of the city to provide extra help. You can't be in all places at once, so the times you can't help us, I want us to be self-sufficient in defending ourselves…"

"But sir, doesn't—"

"I already have many willing volunteers, Sonic. People don't want to stand back and watch as Eggman attacks their own city and home. Everyone wants to help aid you in this war, we all do…"

"But…? You know many more people are going to die by sending them off to fight Eggman!"

"They know to consequences and risks, and are more than willing to take them…"

Sonic heaved a sigh. "…Is that all sir?"

The mayor managed a rare smile. "No Sonic. I also wanted to thank you and your friends for everything that you've done; trying your best to protect this city."

Sonic grinned back. "It's no problem sir: that's how we roll! Defending good against the clutches of evil!"

The mayor laughed good naturedly. "Well, I guess then that's really all; it seems like you and your friends really need a rest now…" He indicated towards the sleeping forms of Raymond, Galaxina, Cream, and Amy. Only Knuckles was still barely awake, slowly nodding off to sleep as well.

Sonic smirked and laughed along with the mayor. "With all due respect, it's been a long day…"

"And so you deserve a rest… You and your friends can go now…" Sonic went around the room, gently shaking everybody to wake them up. As they sleepily rubbed their eyes and yawned, they stumbled their way outside, waving goodbye.

"Take care, this confrontation has only just begun I fear…" The mayor called out to them as the door shut.

Outside, the group of friends exchanged goodbyes as each of them parted in their own directions. Cream left towards her house, Amy towards hers, Sonic towards wherever he felt like, and Raymond and Galaxina to look for Tails and Cosmo. The two of them navigated their way through the unusually cold night, shivering. Raymond wrapped an arm around Galaxina and held her close to himself, trying his best to keep her warm as they strolled to the outskirts of the town. The X-Tornado was barely visible in the distance, almost camouflaging with the dark background. Slowly, the city lights shut off as it was very close to midnight now, enveloping the city in almost pitch black. Only the crescent moon and the stars overhead shone dimly, lighting the path for Raymond and Galaxina to follow.

Finally, they reached the X-Tornado as Raymond knocked on the side of the plane.

"Hello? Tails? Cosmo?" Hearing no response, Raymond shrugged and turned to look at Galaxina. "Maybe they're not here…"

"Or maybe you aren't looking everywhere…" Galaxina suggested as she pointed upwards. Raymond followed the path of her finger, and saw a lone foot dangling over the edge of the plane's wing.

"Ah… I see…" Raymond carefully jumped up and grabbed the wing, hefting himself over on top of it. There, he saw Tails and Cosmo sleeping next to each other, snuggling tightly.

"Found 'em!" Raymond helped Galaxina overboard on the wing as she also noticed the two of them hugging each other in their sleep.

"Aww… they really are so cute together…" Galaxina warmly smiled and yawned. "But how are we going to get home with Tails sleeping?"

Raymond smirked. "Hey I can fly planes decently well, thank you very much…"

"Oh! Sorry I didn't mean-"

Raymond grinned. "Nah, I'm just kidding, I know you didn't mean it that way…" He made his way to where Tails and Cosmo were sleeping, and gently picked both of them up. He carefully walked back towards the cockpit, opened it, and delicately placed both of them in the backseat. However in doing so, he accidently separated them from their initial embrace. Somehow in their sleep, when Tails and Cosmo couldn't feel each other anymore, they started to slowly grope around until once again they felt each other and hugged again, smiling contentedly in their sleep. Both of Tails' tails instinctively wrapped around Cosmo's body, keeping her warm through the chilly night. Next to Raymond, Galaxina silently giggled at Tails' and Cosmo' antics.

"Aww…." Galaxina blushed as she remembered the time when she did the same thing to Raymond…

"It's been a LONG day… let's go home where we can sleep already!" Galaxina gave a small yelp of surprise as Raymond grinned and playfully shoved her a little bit, making her land on the front seat. Raymond then seated himself next to her, and shut the cockpit closed, turning on the engine. The X-Tornado's rockets fired up, and blasted away as it sped off into the night sky towards Tails' house…

…Finally, they landed in Tails' workshop just a few minutes later. Raymond opened the cockpit and sleepily navigated his way down to the ground. After spending the next ten minutes carrying Galaxina, Tails, and Cosmo to their beds, he himself tiredly plopped down on the couch in the living room and checked the time on the clock: 12:36 am

Raymond sighed and lay down, slowly shutting his eyes to sleep when he felt a light touch on his shoulder.

"Are you really going to sleep here?" Raymond snapped his eyes open to see Galaxina standing by the couch, holding a blanket around her body to keep herself warm.

"Umm… yeah…?" Raymond drowsily replied, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Aren't you cold?" Galaxina asked, concerned for Raymond.

Raymond shrugged. "Nah, not really…"

"Isn't it lonely down here?"

"Noo… why?" Raymond asked, curious why Galaxina was asking him all these questions.

In response, she sadly sighed and remained silent until she finally spoke up again.

"Umm… Raymond?"

"Yes?"

Galaxina sighed, trying her best to think of a reason to ask Raymond something. "Well… there's ghosts in my room and I'm scared! I feel safer with you around with me…"

Raymond smirked hazily. "So what you're really trying to ask is if I can sleep with you…?"

"And it's cold… and I'm scared of the dark… and I'm lonely…"

Raymond laughed lightly. "Okay okay, I understand, don't worry I'll come and protect you from all the 'ghosts' then!"

Galaxina smiled tenderly back. "Thanks for understanding…"

Raymond laughed again. "No problem! All you have to do is ask!" He followed Galaxina up the stairs to her room, and as she lay down on the bed, Raymond plopped down on the other side, rested his hands behind his head. Galaxina in response moved closer and hugged Raymond tightly, shivering.

"C-Cold…" Galaxina softly whimpered, shutting her eyes closed and nestling her face in Raymond's fur.

Raymond smiled warmly, wrapping his arms around Galaxina's body. His body heat flowed from him into her as she slowly stopped shivering and started to smile, falling asleep peacefully. Raymond himself watched protectively over her, also closing his eyes.

"Ghosts… that's a good one…I really can't say 'no' though, can I…" Raymond laughed good naturedly to himself as he too fell asleep. Outside, a single snowflake fell from the night sky and plastered itself on the window, quickly melting, leaving behind a trail of water…


	5. Chapter 5

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 51

Tails' house

8:43 am

Raymond slowly opened his eyes in bed, taking in his surroundings. It was still fairly dark; the sun wasn't shining through the blinds of the window, so he guessed it to be pretty early in the morning. He shifted position, and felt Galaxina move slightly to his side, draping an arm over his body. Smiling, Raymond carefully detached himself from her embrace, and swung his legs over the side of the bed, shivering.

"Why is it so cold…?" He curiously wondered to himself, yawning. "It's just the beginning of fall…."

Raymond stood up from bed, and took a glance at the alarm clock by the side table: 8:44 am

"Huh? Why is it so dark…?" Raymond was now intrigued by this unusual set of circumstances. He quickly got dressed and carefully made his way down the dim hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen, getting something quick to eat for breakfast. While in the kitchen, he retrieved a bowl and a gallon of milk, and made himself some cereal. As he pulled out a spoon from the silverware drawer, he leaned over the sink and pulled open the blinds to take a glance outside.

"Oh." Raymond was speechless. "That explains it."

Upstairs, Tails was just about waking up when Raymond quickly dashed into his room.

"Tails! Tails! Wake up!" Raymond's sharp voice cut through the silence of the morning.

"Huh? What is it?" Tails immediately woke up, looking wildly around for the source of Raymond's distress.

Raymond walked over to the window and pulled the blinds open and pointed outside.

"That. That's the problem."

Tails' eyes widened. "Holy- How is that even possible?"

Raymond shrugged. "You tell me…"

Tails smirked. "Yep. That definitely is a problem…" Tails walked over to the window and pointed at the snow covering it. "So you're trying to tell me that somehow in the beginning of fall, it snowed AT LEAST 20 FEET OVERNIGHT?" Tails exclaimed incredulously.

Raymond rubbed his eyes. "Maybe we're dreaming…" He pinched himself in the arm just in case to make sure.

"How…?" Tails was still in shock.

"Hmm… Now that I think about it, I think I DID hear something on the weather channel about this…" Raymond mused.

"How are we even going to get outside or anything? Are we really TRAPPED inside the house?" Tails wasn't paying attention to what Raymond was saying, panicking.

"Well on the bright side, looks like we get a break for an extended period of time from fighting Eggman…" Raymond tried his best to be optimistic.

"Are you saying we could be trapped here for WEEKS? MONTHS?" Tails gasped. "Wait, how much food do we have left?"

"Woah, calm down Tails!" Raymond scratched the back of his head in thought. "What we need to do first is just take a deep breath and try to work all this out… So we know apparently in fall, a blizzard dumped 20 feet of snow here overnight, right?"

"Do you think this situation is the same in Mobius City? What about Sonic, or Amy, or Cream?" Tails started to worry for his friends.

"I'm sure they're alright, here I'll give them a call!" Raymond picked up the corded phone from Tails' side table and dialed Amy's number first.

"Hello?... Hello?... Amy?..." Raymond didn't hear Amy pick up, and after a few repeated trials, he gave up.

"Okay so I guess Amy isn't home then…." Raymond pondered thoughtfully.

"Try Cream's house," Tails suggested.

Raymond shrugged and dialed in Cream's number.

"Hello?..."

"Hello? Who is this?" Raymond was surprised to hear Amy on the other side of the line.

"Amy? This is Raymond calling. Why are you at Cream's house and not at home?"

"Wait wait… just wondering, is there like 20 feet of snow covering Tails' house outside?"

"Yeah! Strange isn't it? So why ARE you at Cream's house? Where's Sonic? And Knuckles?"

"Last night on the way home, it started to snow really badly, so all four of us decided to spend the night at the closest house, which so happened to be Cream's. They're right here if you want to talk to any of them."

"Yeah uh, can I talk to Sonic?"

"Sure!" The other side was silent for a minute until Sonic's voice came over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Sonic? Can you put it on speaker phone? I'll do the same over here."

Raymond took the phone down from the side of his head and pressed the button to activate speaker phone. At Cream's house, Sonic did the same.

"Hello? Sonic, you over there?" This time it was Tails who spoke, the phone receiving his voice and sending it so that everyone at Cream's house could hear.

"Tails?" Sonic replied.

"You guys are having the same situation, right?" Knuckles asked Tails and Raymond.

"Yeah, you guys all right over there? I mean it looks like we're pretty much trapped inside our own houses until the snow melts…" Raymond trailed off.

"We're fine, what about you guys?" Sonic asked.

"Uhh…" Tails turned to Raymond. "Do we have enough food to like last us for a month or even longer?"

Raymond nodded. "Yeah, remember? We went grocery shopping that time we went to the mall with Cosmo and Galaxina."

Tails nodded back in response. "Yeah, we're good too Sonic…"

"Okay I just wanted to let you guys know; I just got off a call with the mayor, and he wanted you two to know that he doesn't think Eggman will be attacking anytime soon…"

Raymond laughed. "No kidding…"

"Is the situation at Mobius City the same as over here?" Tails asked.

"Yeah," Sonic replied. "Looks like everyone better have get used to staying at home for a while…"

On the other side, Raymond and Tails could hear a 'THUD'.

"What was that?" Raymond asked in curiously.

"Knuckles just fainted; I don't think he very much likes the idea of that…" Sonic answered back.

Raymond laughed. "Well at least he doesn't have to worry about guarding the Master Emerald for a while…"

"What about you Sonic? How are you going to survive staying indoors without any open space to run?" Tails asked, worried for his friend.

"I'm fine. Luckily Cream has an old treadmill in the basement that hopefully works…"

"Well anyways-" Amy's voice was cut off as suddenly, the lights eerily flickered overhead Raymond and Tails' heads.

"What was that?" Tails asked Raymond, looking nervously around.

Raymond shrugged. "I… think the power just went down on us…" To prove his point, Raymond walked over to the light switch and flicked it on and off a couple of times as the lights stayed off.

"Does that mean no using the computers or anything?" Tails questioned, now worried for himself.

Raymond sighed. "I guess not…"

Tails gave a dejected sigh. "Oh COME ON… Is there ANYTHING good about this?"

Raymond smirked. "Well, maybe you can work on and improve your 'social' skills in the meantime…"

"Huh?" Tails was confused. "What do you mean?"

Raymond laughed. "Oh you'll see…" He looked over his shoulder at the sleeping form of Cosmo, who was just about starting to stir. "You might want to start now…"

"Huh? Wait—" But Raymond had already run out of the room, leaving Tails alone with a waking Cosmo.

"T-Tails?" Cosmo sleepily mumbled.

Tails smiled and walked over to the side of the bed. "Good morning, Cosmo!" Tails replied cheerfully as he sat down on the side of the bed.

Cosmo grabbed the blanket and wrapped herself in it, shivering. "C-C-Cold…." She curled herself up in a small ball, her teeth audibly chattering.

Tails sighed and draped his furry, twin tails over her body, trying his best to keep her warm. "Better?" Tails kindly asked Cosmo.

"Mhmm…." Cosmo whimpered, wrapping her arms around Tails' tails, holding them close to her body. She delicately stroked the length of them with her hands, gently rubbing them against her soft face. "So soft… and warm…" She breathed happily.

Tails smiled warmly at her. "Are you feeling okay, Cosmo?" Tails asked considerately.

"Mhmm… just a bit… C-Cold…" Cosmo's teeth started to chatter as she started to shiver again. She hugged Tails' tails, trying to keep herself warm as the room started to slowly get colder.

"Don't worry, I'll make you feel better!" Tails slid into the bed under the blanket next to Cosmo and wrapped his arms around her tightly. In response, she curled herself up next to his body, ensconcing herself in his fur as she sighed contentedly.

"Tails….?" Cosmo managed to ask.

"Hmm? Yes, Cosmo?"

"I love you…" Cosmo breathed, gently nuzzling her face in Tails' chest fur.

Tails warmly smiled in return. "I love you too, Cosmo…" He kissed her forehead and gently nestled his face in his emerald green, silky hair, his nose managing to find its way on top of one of Cosmo's rosebuds. Every time Tails inhaled, he smelt her roses, which faintly reminded him of something between strawberries and some other nice smelling perfumes…

"Tails…?" Cosmo giggled as Tails' tails moved slightly, tickling her face. "That tickles! Your nose is wet!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Tails immediately removed his nose from Cosmo's rosebuds. "I didn't mean to do that…" Tails apologized.

Cosmo giggled again. "I didn't say stop! I like the feeling of your nose brushing against my flowers, even if it is wet!"

"Is it really?" Tails withdrew one hand from around Cosmo's waist and gently felt the tip of his nose. "No it's not!" Tails countered.

Suddenly, Cosmo sat up and gave Tails a quick peck on the tip of his nose. "Well it is now!" Cosmo giggled again, playfully shoving Tails back onto the bed. As he fell back onto the layers of blankets, laughing, she pinned his arms to the bed by sitting on them and started to mercilessly tickle him in the stomach.

"Hahaha! Cosmooo!" Tails tried to break free, but she was holding him tightly.

"Say 'please'!" Cosmo smiled warmly as her heart melted at the sight of Tails laughing.

"Umm…" Cosmo gave Tails a brief respite as he thought about it. "No!" Tails defiantly tried to wiggle free.

Cosmo smirked. "Wrong answer, Tails!" She replied as she reached out again to tickle Tails.

"Hahaha! Okay okay! Let me go Cosmo!" Tails started to laugh hysterically, almost crying because he was laughing so hard.

"Nope, sorry! You said you didn't want to Tails!"

"Haha! Okay Okay, I'm S-Sorry!" Tails managed to sputter as Cosmo let him go. As he stopped to catch his breath, Tails turned to look at his smiling girlfriend.

"How come you're the one always tickling me? How come I don't ever get to tickle you?"

Cosmo smiled. "I'm not ticklish, Tails…"

Tails smirked and rolled his aqua blue eyes playfully. "Oh really? We'll see about that!" He was just about to leap at Cosmo with his arms outstretched when they heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Hello? Tails? Are you okay in there?" Raymond called through the closed door. Swiftly but silently, Tails and Cosmo got under the blankets and pretended to be asleep, Tails hugging Cosmo from behind as Raymond slowly opened the door, peering in.

Galaxina appeared by his side, crossing her arms and smiling at the sight of Tails and Cosmo peacefully snoring in their sleep. "Come on Raymond, they're sleeping! Don't bother them!"

Raymond shrugged. "I SWEAR I thought I heard them bouncing up and down on the bed and shouting…"

"Come on Raymond," Galaxina gently nudged Raymond as she reached out and slowly closed the door. "Let's leave them alone for a while…"

The sound of their footsteps slowly faded away as Raymond and Galaxina walked down the hallway, down the stairs. In Tails' bedroom, slowly, he and Cosmo opened their eyes, silently giggling.

"That was close!" Tails softly whispered as Cosmo slowly turned her body around in bed to face Tails.

"You know… I still haven't figured out if you were ticklish or not…" Tails pointed out.

"I'm not-"

"Pshht, yeah right!" Tails grinned.

Cosmo smiled. "Really, I'm not!"

"Oh yeah?" Tails smirked. "Well… what if I do… THIS?" Tails moved his fluffy, twin tails and gently brushed them across Cosmo's face.

"Hey!" Cosmo exclaimed, giggling. "That's not fair that you have tails!"

Tails smiled. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

"THIS!" Cosmo exclaimed, grabbing both of Tails' tails and hugging them tightly so that they couldn't tickle her anymore.

Tails laughed, and in return hugged Cosmo tightly. Suddenly, he yawned as he felt pretty worn out and sleepy all of a sudden.

"Wow… I'm pretty tired out after all that…" Tails managed a grin as Cosmo shut her eyes, smiling contentedly, falling into a deep and peaceful sleep. He smiled warmly as he watched her slowly decrease her breathing until she was asleep, Tails feeling her chest gently rise and fall against his own chest.

"Yeah… I'm guess I should probably… sleep… too…." Tails gave one last yawn and smacked his lips together as he too fell asleep….


	6. Chapter 6

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 52

Tails' house

9:12 am

CLICK… CLICK… CLICK…

Frustrated, Raymond tossed the TV remote to the couch opposite him. "Why is EVERYTHING refusing to work?" He heaved a sigh, and leaned his head back against the sofa, shutting his eyes in disappointment. As Raymond yawned out of boredom, he opened his eyes and turned to glance at the small, side table next to where he was sitting. He spied a corded phone on top of the surface, grabbed it, and hastily dialed in a number.

"Hello…? Hello…?" Raymond desperately asked, but to no avail. He took the phone off of the side of his face and closely examined it. The screen was blank; out of power.

"Rgghh…" Raymond slammed the phone back down in its case and ran over to the living room light switch. He flicked them on and off a couple of times, but nothing happened. Even though it was in the morning, the immense amount of snow covering most of Mobius blocked the sunlight, making Tails' house appear very dark, as if it were evening time.

"Why won't anything work?" Irritated, Raymond flung his hands out in the air in front of him. Fire accidentally sprung from them into the furnace in the living room, causing the logs inside of them to light up and warm the house considerably.

"Wow…." Raymond widened his eyes and scratched the back of his head in wonder as he managed an amused smile. "Why didn't I think of that before…?" He looked back over his shoulder to see Galaxina sitting at the kitchen table, busily writing something down in a small notebook. As she did so, she used one hand to push back her long azure hair behind one ear.

"Hey Galaxina! Looks like I figured out an answer to our temperature problem!" Raymond cheerfully called out.

In response, Galaxina looked up from what she was doing and tilted her head to the side to face Raymond, her long, sapphire-blue hair idly falling to cover one side of her face.

"That's great Raymond!" Galaxina kindly smiled. As Raymond smiled back, his sharp eyes memorizing every little detail: Her light blue t-shirt and traditional petal dress, the delicate looking white flower resting upon her head, the way her irresistible, light purple eyes gazed into his own as time seemed to move more slowly, both of them lost in the moment…

"Woah wait, hold on a second…" Raymond thoughts interrupted as he briefly blushed and looked down at the ground, trying to get a hold of himself. "Why do I always feel this way around her…? Why do I feel so…. so… satisfied? Peaceful? I don't know…" Raymond sighed out loud.

"What's wrong, Raymond?" Galaxina's smile vanished and was replaced by a concerned frown. "Is there something wrong that you want to tell me about?"

Raymond hesitantly glanced upwards at Galaxina and managed a small, comforting smile. "Nah, nothing really…" As she shrugged and resumed writing in her notebook, Raymond silently kicked himself in the leg.

"What's wrong with me? Am I….? No… I couldn't be… And besides even if I was, how could she like someone like me? No she couldn't… not after what I've done, or rather, haven't done… Didn't I make the same mistake with Emily? That I'd promise to protect her, and failed in the end…? I mean I guess it's true that in the end I actually saved her… But no, she deserves better than me! All I had to do was keep one promise, and I couldn't, so that right there proves how pitiful I am… Yeah… she couldn't… WOULDN'T like me…" Raymond sighed again as his thoughts wandered around randomly. "…But I'm still glad at least we're friends though…" Raymond smiled as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, watching over Galaxina.

"Are you SURE you're okay?" Galaxina again looked at Raymond, this time with a hint of suspicion.

"Well…" Raymond faltered under her stare, his thoughts in full combat inside his head.

"Just tell her already!"

"No… I can't!"

"Come on! Just spit it out!"

"No! That'll be WAY to forward to just blurt that out! I… I don't want to lose her as a friend, especially if that's the only thing I've got…"

"I…." Raymond stuttered, his thoughts still bouncing around in his head.

Suddenly, Galaxina's expression melted and faded into a softer, more sympathetic one. "Is… it about… her?"

"Uhh… Yeah…" Raymond looked downcast as he mentally sighed in relief. Then unfortunately, the same depression he had been bottling up so well came pouring out as a few tears unintentionally ran down his face.

"Wow…" Raymond thought regretfully. "I'd forgotten how much I miss you Emily…" He sniffed sadly as his heart started to ache with the agony of misery. "How much you meant to me… how it was all taken away…"

"…" Suddenly he felt arms wrap around his body as he was enveloped in a tight hug.

"Shh…" Galaxina whispered comfortingly as she shut her eyes and nuzzled her face in his chest fur, also silently crying. "I simply can't imagine how much pain you're going through…It must have really broke your heart when she died…" Galaxina sighed as she continued.

"But please don't cry or be sad, Raymond… I can't bear to see you in this state…I love seeing the 'old' you! The 'Raymond' that was always positive and cheerful and would never stop trying his best to encourage other people…He really meant a lot to me! …Do you know where I can find him…? If you can… Can you tell him that I miss him…? That I want him back…?"

Raymond managed a small laugh through his tears. "H-He's right here, Galaxina… I guess you just have to remind him to show up every once in a while…I-I guess you just need to remind him that he means something to other people…" Raymond sniffed and wiped his face with the back of his arm. "T-Thanks…"

Galaxina warmly smiled. "I promised to comfort you when you were down, didn't I?" She giggled cheerfully.

"Yeah…" Raymond smiled half sorrowfully half optimistically as his thoughts started to drift again…

"If Emily could see me now, I know she'd be proud…

Somewhere in me deep down, there's something in me she found…

That made her believe in me…" Raymond's thoughts trailed off in midsentence as his smile waivered just a bit.

"But what was it…? I don't even believe I have what it takes…" Raymond heaved another sigh as he plopped down on the living room couch, Galaxina returning to the kitchen table and continuing writing in what Raymond believed to be her journal.

"But I'm glad I still have all of my friends with me though…" Raymond thought to himself optimistically, pondering what to do in the meantime…

Meanwhile…

"Rgggh!" Knuckles pounded at the wall of snow that blocked the front door as pieces and shrapnel of ice and snow sprayed everywhere.

"Woah! Chill Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed as he barely dove out of the way. "There's no way you can burrow through this!" To emphasize his point, Sonic pointed at the barely noticeable dent in the wall of ice that Knuckles had been working on for the past hour.

"I don't care!" Knuckles shouted and drew his fist back again. "What else are we supposed to do? I'm not gonna sit around here all day doing nothing!"

"We could play a board game!" Cream optimistically suggested, her eyes lighting up.

"Yeah!" Amy enthusiastically agreed, drawing her piko-hammer out. "I'd love to teach you guys my new game called 'Hit-the-stupid-echidna'!" She menacingly took a step towards Knuckles, sick of his actions and comments, her temper flaring.

"Oh yeah? You wanna try?" Knuckles angrily retaliated, scowling, intentionally looking to start a fight.

"I'd LOVE to!" Amy and Knuckles both growled and were just about to go at it when Sonic ran between them and separated the two, ducking his head as they uselessly swung at each other.

"Come on guys! Why are we fighting each other?" Sonic desperately tried to cool the situation. "We can't afford to lose our tempers! Not when we already have Eggman!"

"Hmph. Fine!" Knuckles swiftly turned around and crossed his arms pridefully. "I'm not talking to anyone anymore."

"Oh pul-eeze!" Amy rolled her eyes and also crossed her arms in contempt. "You think you're—"

"Guys! Chill!" Sonic interrupted before another verbal fight could start.

Knuckles held up his hands in mock innocence. "I didn't do anything!"

"YOU didn't do anything? Well—" Amy and Knuckles started going off in each other's faces again as Sonic slumped to the floor in despair and covered his face with his hands.

"I hate my life…" Sonic moaned pitifully… "How am I EVER going to survive another hour, not to mention days or weeks with them?"

Meanwhile: Out somewhere far away in space…

Upon a rocky, barren planet somewhere in the far outreaches of space, a dark red hedgehog was silently standing on top of a tall ledge, surveying the area below. The temperature was below freezing, so he had a large trench coat covering most of his body, the sleeves and collar noisily flapping in the chilly wind. He remained positioned up there for several long minutes until he finally curtly nodded to himself and turned around, stalking back towards his own personal space craft which was parked nearby. A ways back, a colossal army of over ten thousand anamorphic creatures was massed together, each holding various, vicious-looking weapons, standing on the deck of a gigantic space carrier. As the hedgehog strolled into his ship and the automatic doors gently clicked shut behind him, sealing him off from the planet's harsh and freezing conditions, the sound of the wind drumming on the door evident, he grimly smiled.

He, Commander Flash, was coming for Raymond… Finally…


	7. Chapter 7

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 53

Tails' house

10:31 am

"Raymond!"

Startled, Raymond suddenly snapped his eyes open and jumped a bit. His senses started to work at full speed as he quickly absorbed his surroundings, finding himself to be napping on the couch in Tails' living room, his head resting on the back of the sofa. In front of him, Tails was patiently waiting, tapping his foot impatiently with a big smile on his face.

"Raymond!" Tails repeated again, this time a bit softer. "I think I've got it!"

"Huh…?" Raymond drowsily rubbed his eyes. "What did you get?"

Tails broke into a grin. "I've think I've got the solution to break through the ice that's been covering Mobius!"

"Ohh.." Raymond turned around and looked over his shoulder at the clock. "Hmm… 2 hours? You're late Tails!" Raymond joked, smirking.

"Aww… no I'm not!" Tails replied, also laughing good naturedly. As Raymond stood up from the couch and stretched, Tails started to explain what his idea was.

"See… What I've been thinking is that we can have this—"

"Woah hold on a sec Tails!" Raymond chuckled, "Did you tell Galaxina or Cosmo yet?"

"Noo.. actually I didn't. See I was lying in bed thinking until this great idea hit me, and then I had to run to you as quickly as possible and tell it to you before I forgot it!" Tails exclaimed, waving his arms frantically to emphasize his point.

Raymond laughed. "You didn't forget it, did you…?"

Tails shook his head. "Of course not!"

"Well… dontcha wanna wait for everyone to wake up and get here before you explain?" Raymond asked, tilting his head questioningly.

"Umm… I guess I was a bit too excited, huh?" Tails grinned sheepishly. "I can wait I guess.."

Raymond laughed again. "Well I'm just saying…"

Tails shrugged. "Nah it's okay, I—"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open slowly, followed by the soft patter of light footsteps on the carpeted floor in the hallway. Cosmo appeared from around the corner into the living room, covering her body by wrapping a light green blanket around herself for warmth.

"Hi Cosmo!" Tails cheerfully beamed. "Glad to see that you're up!"

"Good morning to you to Tails!" Cosmo warmly smiled back as she visibly shivered.

Tails, noticing this, turned to look at the burning fireplace behind him. "Are you cold, Cosmo? Do you want to sit by the fireplace?" Tails asked, concerned.

Cosmo shook her head. "I'm fine. Just a little cold is all…" She lightly replied back, holding the blanket closer to her body.

Raymond turned to look at Tails questioningly. "It's not THAT cold to you, is it? I don't really feel very cold at all strangely…"

In response, Tails took a glance at the thermostat on the wall nearby: 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

"I think it's because we have fur and she doesn't, Raymond…"Tails answered back.

"I wish I had fur like you Tails… Then maybe I'd look almost as cute as you too!" Cosmo kindly smiled, sighing in thought.

Tails blushed and smiled back. "I don't think you need fur; you're already 'cute' yourself!"

"Aww…" Cosmo blushed and giggled, covering her mouth with a hand to hide her red cheeks. "That's so sweet of you to say Tails!"

"Hehe…" Tails giggled as well. "Umm… if being 'sweet' means speaking the truth, then I guess so!"

Raymond lightly coughed, prompting Tails to explain his idea to him and Cosmo.

"Oh right!" Tails snapped his fingers in thought. "I figured out a solution to our 'problem' with the ice! Isn't that great?"

Cosmo giggled again. "Well I'm not surprised… I knew you'd figure out a way; you always do Tails!" She sweetly complemented.

"Hehe.. well.." Tails blushed, continuing with his explanation. "What we can do is build a machine that can 'drill' through the ice, creating a big enough hole to walk through and get to other places…"

"You know I've thought of something too… why don't I just melt all the ice with my powers?" Raymond curiously wondered, scratching the back of his head.

"Well… think what would happen with all the 20 feet of ice suddenly turned into water…" Tails asked Raymond in response to his question.

"Oh. Right." Raymond furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought. "That probably wouldn't be a good idea…"

"So let's get started then!" Tails cheerfully exclaimed and sauntered to the door in the back of the living room that led to his workshop, Cosmo following behind closely.

"Should I go get Galaxina then?" Raymond was interrupted as the door to the workshop slammed shut, the sound of Tails and Cosmo talking eagerly to each other muffled through the metal door.

"I'll take that as a yes then…" Raymond sighed and yawned again, still slightly tired. "Galaxina..? Hellooo…?" Raymond cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, his voice echoing around the house. "Galaxina…?"

Hearing no reply, Raymond shrugged and started to slowly search for Cosmo's older sister, walking up the stairs to where all the bedrooms were located. As he made his way down the hallway, he was careful to check every room, first peeking in on Tails and Cosmo's room.

"Hello…?" The room was uninhabited, the bed neatly made, everything all organized and orderly. Raymond smirked. That was probably because of Cosmo… he didn't exactly think of Tails as the tidiest person. Smart yes, neat no. But weren't most highly intelligent people like college professors for example not exactly known for their neatness? There was some meaning behind the stereotype…

Raymond continued his search down the hallway, quietly treading on the carpet. As he passed by a mirror hanging on the side wall, he stopped to glance and look at himself.

"Hmmm…" Raymond turned his head from side to side. "I really need to get a haircut…" He flicked his bangs out of his eyes, running his fingers through them to comb them to the side. As he did so, Raymond also noticed his eyes seemed just a bit sunk in, making him look slightly "zombie-ish" from being tired and fighting all the time.

"I really don't know how Sonic and the rest managed to do it for most of their lives…" He carefully felt a bruise on the side of his face, wincing in pain a little bit.

"Ah forget it…" Raymond sighed and continued to search for Galaxina. As he approached his and her room, he thought he could hear the sound of quiet rustling inside.

"Helloo…? Galaxina…?" Raymond peeked in, lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper when he noticed her sitting on the edge of the bed. Her back was turned to him as she was slouching over, her head resting in one hand. Raymond thought he could hear her sniff as if she had been crying.

"…Galaxina…?" Raymond softly called out, surprising her. She jumped a little bit, and turned to look at Raymond. It didn't look like she had been crying: there wasn't any noticeable sign of it. But she did look a bit down and depressed about something…

Raymond rushed over to her side in no time. "What's wrong?" Raymond asked in concern, comforting her by wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Galaxina sighed sorrowfully and closed her eyes shut. "I-It's about… my family…" She sniffed again, this time sounding on the verge of bursting into tears. "I—I miss them….R-Raymond…"

"Oh…" Raymond was at a loss for words.

Galaxina continued with her emotional tirade. "I… I mean I know my mom and sisters and friends are all in a better place now… But…" She sighed forlornly again. "I'm just worried is all…"

"..What do you mean…?" Raymond cautiously asked, holding her closer to himself.

"I…" Galaxina averted her eyes, looking down at the ground below. "I don't know… I guess I'm worried for my sister: Cosmo…"

"Why…?"

"Because… she's so young, and yet she's gone through so much! Like having her family and friends all die and even having to die herself! I know it's my responsibility to take care of her, but I… I just don't know if I really can… I mean I don't know if I can possibly make up for all the pain she's gone through…" Galaxina looked back up into Raymond's eyes. "I guess I'm just… concerned for her is all…"

"Oh…" Raymond sighed deeply as well. "Well… you know… you may not have to 'make-up' for it…"

"What do you mean…?" This time it was Galaxina's turn to ask a question.

"Well.." Raymond smirked. "From what I've seen, she already has someone who can more than do that… Tails.."

"Yeah… I guess so…" Galaxina looked down again.

"Cosmo seems to be alright; more than happy in fact because of Tails! Love is a strange thing, isn't it?" Raymond lightheartedly smiled, but then changed his expression to one of more concern and worry. "You sure still don't look alright…" Raymond noticed and pointed out.

"Nah.. I'm… fine…" Galaxina managed a small smile. The two of them sat next to each other on the bed for a couple minutes in an awkward silence until Raymond finally broke it.

"You sure don't seem like it…" Raymond scratched the back of his head. "Remember how you said you'd help me out whenever I felt down…?"

"Yeah…"

"Well I want to do the same to you! I can't bear to see you depressed either! I miss the old Galaxina who was always so kind and caring…"

Galaxina managed a small giggle. "She's right here, Raymond…."

"Haha well..." Raymond trailed off. "I take it you're feeling better then…?"

"Mhm!" Galaxina kindly replied. "Sorry if I was acting just a bit depressed; I just had a couple of things to think over…"

"That's fine! I understand! You don't have to tell me…" Raymond answered back, getting back up from the bed. "I probably shouldn't disturb you anymore, so I'll leave you alone then…"

He was just about stand up when Galaxina suddenly grabbed one of his tails and pulled him back. As Raymond was about to say something, she quickly held the back of his head and brought it closer to her own face, kissing him tenderly as their lips met…

After they broke away several moments later, Raymond smiled at Galaxina, blushing slightly.

"Umm… you're welcome..? I don't even know what I did to cheer you up though…"

Galaxina giggled, also blushing as well. "Well… you just helped me think through some things..."

"Just by sitting next to you and talking?"

Galaxina warmly smiled. "Well it's more than that… It means more than that to me…"

"I know…" Raymond winked cheerfully. "Happy to help! …Do you mind telling me what it is you were thinking about…?"

Galaxina sighed despondently. "Well… It's really nothing I guess… Maybe I'll tell you some other time, sorry…"

Raymond grinned. "It's alright. Like I said; I understand if you don't want me to know… I'm just worried for you is all…"

Galaxina smiled warmly back in return. "I know… and I appreciate it!" She slowly got up from the couch as well.

"Well… Tails has something to show you! Come on!" Raymond quickly changed the subject and bounded to the door, remembering the original reason he had come looking for Galaxina in the first place.

"I'm coming, don't worry!" Raymond disappeared back into the hallway as Galaxina sighed again, toying with the elaborate ring Raymond had given her a few days ago.

"…You may not know it Raymond… You're not aware of it…But it's YOU that I'm worried for…your safety and well-being…your lingering depression...But you're right… I guess there's really nothing to worry about: you just proved it right now…"

Galaxina slowly walked out of the room, leaving her thoughts behind her in the room…


	8. Chapter 8

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 54

Tails' workshop

11:14 am

In a large warehouse-like room, a light-orange fox was diligently lying on his back underneath what appeared to be a bulky, steel base. Tails was busily working on the makings of his 'drilling' machine, just about beginning the main structure and foundation of it. He had just beforehand proposed that this new invention could possibly solve the 'ice' crisis they were having now by tunneling right through it. Already, he had completed the 'tractor-like' wheels and was inserting them onto the hull…

"Rrgh!" Tails grunted as he pulled himself out from under the bottom and attached a rivet on the interior of the foundation. Nearby, Raymond hefted an oval like wheel and set it on the contraption, hearing it snap into place.

"Whew…" Tails brushed his forehead with the back of his arm, panting heavily as he attached a bolt onto the wheel, tightly fastening it onto the end of the rivet.

As he took a few steps backwards to observe the progress they had made so far, he grinned and nodded to himself in obvious satisfaction.

"Well we're doing well so far!" Tails positively observed, picking up a wrench from a nearby toolbox. Raymond in the meantime grabbed a long coil of wheel treads from the workbench and started to drag it across the metal floor, hearing the friction of the rubber covering on the ground as they grated together.

As Raymond set the rubber treads onto the ground by his feet, he helped Tails set and fasten another wheel into place. Both of them then grabbed an end of the treads and hoisted it on the top and bottom of the wheels, covering them so as to create more friction with the ground so the mechanism wouldn't slip when it burrowed through the ice.

"Nice!" Raymond complemented, giving Tails a high-five. "I don't know much about building machines, but it looks like we're constructing this pretty fast!"

"Yeah well…" Tails shrugged nonchalantly. "We still have a lot to go still," He broke into a grin. "But I'm estimating that we'll finish this by evening time today!"

"Evening…?" Raymond heaved a sigh. "I was hoping we'd be able to finish a lot earlier…"

"Well I mean usually something like this would take me at LEAST a few days, but thanks to your help, I can do the same amount of work in much less time!" Tails thanked Raymond gratefully, who smiled back in response.

"I don't know much about the science of building, but I guess I'm pretty good at picking up and moving things…" Raymond trailed off.

Tails laughed. "That's pretty important still!" He insisted, stretching his sore arms.

Raymond smirked. "Well if you say so…"

"Yeah…" Tails laughed lightly again, but then winced in pain. "Ahh…" He tenderly felt his forearms. "The only bad thing about working so fast is that if you're not careful, you might injure yourself…"

"You alright?" Raymond asked, inspecting his own arms.

"Yeah.. I'm fine.." Tails replied, heading towards the door to his living room. "How about we take a short break? I'll just soak them in warm water or something…"

"No problem! I'll be waiting here in the meantime…" Raymond answered back as Tails slowly shut the workshop door behind him, making his way to the kitchen. On his way, he encountered Cosmo, who was idly sitting on the living room sofa, reading one of the books she had found on his bookshelf in the hallway. She was wearing a coat to warm herself from the ever decreasing temperature..

"Hi Tails!" Cosmo cheerfully said as she looked up from the book and noticed Tails.

"Hi Cosmo!" Tails said in return, smiling.

"Are you finished yet? Is that why you came inside?" Cosmo wondered out loud.

Tails laughed. "No.. But we're making good progress so far!"

Cosmo smiled kindly. "That's good to hear!"

Tails laughed brightly again as he continued to slowly walk to the kitchen, Cosmo on his heels. "Just wondering, why do you never come and help us whenever we're building something..?"

"I'm not very good at doing much Tails… I wouldn't be much of a help…" Cosmo softly replied.

"Yes you are!" Tails stopped walking and turned to look at Cosmo, warmly smiling. "You're good at doing a LOT of things! And you're really helpful as well! And even if you may not be good at building things, I'd be more than happy to teach you!"

"Aww.. thanks!" Cosmo sweetly replied. "But I still wouldn't be able to do all that much anyways…"

Tails smirked. "Hey, in my opinion, if you got the chance, I think you'd be GREAT at anything you put your mind to! I think you'd be an even BETTER help than Raymond if you ever took the time to learn about mechanics and engineering!" Tails laughed. "Don't tell Raymond I said that though…"

Cosmo giggled. "I won't!"

Tails smiled and shrugged. "But really, one of these days I'm going to teach you! And then maybe you could help me next time! I mean… you're the smartest person I've ever known! Your knowledge about space and planets really helped us a lot when we were fighting the Meterex! Sometimes I didn't even know what you were talking about, which goes to show that you might be even smarter than me!" Tails winked, smiling.

Cosmo blushed, and smiled back in response. "Aww… you're so sweet Tails!" She giggled. "But I doubt anyone could EVER be smarter than you!"

"Hehe well…" Tails blushed and made to scratch the back of his head when suddenly he flinched in pain.

"Ahh!" Tails yelped and instinctively pulled his arm back, shutting his eyes. "That hurt…"

Immediately, Cosmo delicately placed a hand on his forearm as Tails relaxed under her soft, soothing touch. "Oh my gosh, are you okay Tails?" She worriedly asked, her eyes wide open in anxiety.

Tails slowly opened one eye, grinning. "Nah I'm fine.. my arms are just a bit sore.. I'll be alright…" He tried to pull himself free, but ended up hurting himself even more.

Cosmo sighed as she tearfully watched Tails in pain, gently holding both of his forearms so that he couldn't move them. "Just sit right here and I'll be back Tails…" Cosmo consoled, sitting Tails down on the living room sofa. As he quietly remained sitting, Cosmo rushed off to the kitchen to look for a few things…

…She returned a few minutes later with a damp towel and a basin of warm water. Cosmo gently placed Tails' arms into the water, and tenderly stroked them with her own hands, lovingly looking into his aqua blue eyes while she was tending to him.

"Is that better, Tails..?" Cosmo sympathetically asked, massaging his forearms.

"Yeah…" Tails slowly shut his eyes and leaned back, relaxing. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble though…"

Cosmo kindly smiled. "And watch you suffer in the meantime? I may not be able to 'help' you in building things, but I hope this is enough to make it up to you…"

Tails laughed lightly. "Just having you around is 'enough' to make it up! More than 'enough' in fact! You don't have to feel obligated to help me, I was just thinking that would be nice if I could teach you one day…"

"Aww… Just having me around is all you need..?" Cosmo warmly smiled.

Tails nodded and grinned. "I couldn't possibly ask for anything better!"

"Aww…" Cosmo leaned over and gave Tails a peck on his muzzle. "You really make me feel more special than I deserve…"

Tails lightly blushed, smirking at the same time. "More than you deserve? In my opinion, I think you 'deserve' more than this!"

Cosmo giggled. "How could I deserve more than having the cutest, furriest, nicest, smartest fox ever?" To emphasize her point, Cosmo took one of her hands out of the lukewarm water, reached over, and started to gently scratch Tails behind the ears. "You'll always be my cute fuzz head!" Cosmo contentedly sighed, and set the basin of water aside, playfully cuddling with Tails' two tails…

As the two of the continued to talk to each other, back in the workshop, Raymond was patiently waiting, sitting on the bench, drinking a bottle of water. He yawned out of boredom, and checked his watch: 11:33 am

"Almost noon…" Raymond noticed, thinking to himself. He glanced back at the unfinished drilling machine they were building, then turned to look at the other incomplete plane that was almost ready to be flown. All it needed for it to be fully completed was the cockpit, weapons, and the engines. Everything else was all set and welded into place…

"Hmm… maybe I can work on that a little bit while I'm waiting for Tails…" Raymond thought to himself, picking himself up from the bench and slowly making his way to the plane. "I bet I can maybe help build part of the cockpit…"

Raymond hoisted himself up onto the hull of where the cockpit should have been originally located, and started to inspect the area. As he did so, he noticed a "power" button on the dashboard of the plane.

"Hmm… wonder what this'll do?" Raymond cautiously pressed it, but nothing happened.

"Huh?" Raymond pressed it again, but there was still no sign of anything.

"Strange…" Raymond dropped down to his knees and began to look under the dashboard, examining the circuitry and wiring of the plane.

"Aha!" Raymond noticed that a few of the wires weren't connected to each other, so he instinctively reached out and attached them together, hearing them click into place. "I think I've got it now!" Raymond encouragingly exclaimed to himself.

He stood back up, and pressed the power button again. This time however, the plane did turn on, powering on with a whirr noise. As the dashboard began to turn on, Raymond noticed a flashing out of the corner of his eyes.

"Huh…?" Raymond bent over and carefully looked at it. There was some sort of blank, rectangular screen which contained a red, flashing dot in the middle.

"Wonder what this is…?" Raymond involuntarily touched the screen as it suddenly went blank. The entire power to the plane shut off, as Raymond stood there with a confused expression on his face.

"Okaay…" Raymond shrugged and pressed the power button again. However, it gave no response; Raymond couldn't turn on the plane again.

"…I guess I better not mess with anything... I'll just ask Tails what it means…And I should tell him that we should probably start working again…" Raymond said as he clambered over the side of the plane, jumping down to the ground.

As he left the workshop to go find Tails, back on the plane, the dashboard suddenly turned on again, the red dot blinking on and off rapidly. This time however, three words appeared right under the dot, which read…

CHAOS EMERALD NEARBY


	9. Chapter 9

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 55

Tails' workshop

5:25 pm

"I present to you, the Ice-Twister!" Tails declared victoriously as he uncovered the dark cloak that concealed his newest invention. Before Raymond, Cosmo, and Galaxina stood a spectacular, high-tech machine. It slightly resembled a large, steel tank; having the basic structure and armor of one. However, instead of having a cannon attached to the top of it, instead, a large drill-saw jutted out of the front, the point razor sharp, gleaming in the dim light. The entire workshop would have been pitch black as the ice blocked the sunlight, but lanterns were placed at intervals around the edge of the room, giving off an eerie, weak light. Everyone's faces faintly glowed in the illumination, making it barely possible to see around the workshop…

"Wow, great job Tails! I knew you could do it!" Cosmo complemented, the light vaguely bouncing off of her pale face and emerald green hair.

"Hehe.." Tails modestly giggled. "Umm.. thanks!"

"Yeah!" Raymond cheered enthusiastically. "We finally finished it!"

Tails nodded encouragingly. "Wanna try it out and see if it works?" He gestured towards the Ice-Twister.

Raymond grinned, cocking his head to the side questioningly. "Are you kidding me? I've been waiting for this practically the whole day!"

"Alright, that's the spirit!" Tails responded optimistically, walking over to his invention and hoisting himself on the top. He proceeded to pull up the door that led to the cockpit, and seated himself on the chair inside. Tails turned the Ice-Twister on as it revved up with a low hum, patiently waiting on standby.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's do this!" Tails fearlessly grinned as he grabbed a hold of the joystick controllers and started to slowly maneuver the Ice-Twister to face the garage door.

Tails toned the machine down as Raymond hurriedly rushed to the side wall and flicked a metal switch. A 'whirr' sound filled the workshop as the garage door slowly heaved upwards, slowly bit by bit revealing the solid wall of ice. As the door opened all the way, the full height and extent of the 20 feet of ice showed itself.

"It's go time!" Tails shouted, and thrust the joysticks forward, gunning the engines to full blast as the drill began to slowly spin, but increasing faster and faster until it was just a blur of dark gray. As the Ice-Twister began to move forward ever closer to the wall of ice, everyone held their breaths. What if… What if it didn't work…?

However, their fears and notions were dispelled when the point of the drill made contact with the ice, immediately creating a high-pitched shrieking sound as the drill penetrated the ice at an incredibly high speed. Everyone was forced to cover their ears as the noise grew increasingly louder and louder until it was deafening, actually beginning to hurt their ears.

"TAILS!" Raymond shouted at the top of his lungs, but to no avail. Pieces of ice flew everywhere at random, some of them hitting Raymond's unprotected body as they grazed by. He was forced to duck down and cover his face as the noise still grew even louder.

Finally, it stopped. Silence. Nothing…

Curiously, Raymond slowly uncovered his face and ears, and stood up, surveying the workshop. Everywhere, sharp debris of ice lay everywhere, scattered all over the place. He turned around to check if Cosmo and Galaxina were okay, and finding them to be alright, he cautiously sauntered towards the huge, gaping hole in the wall of ice. As he peered down the artificially created corridor, he noticed Tails' Ice-Twister a LONG ways down at the end. Raymond started to run down the ice cavern, being careful not to slip or fall on the icy ground underneath his feet. Cosmo and Galaxina shadowed him, following closely behind, anxious to see what had happened. As Raymond ran down the grotto, he noticed the frozen landscapes of tall grass and trees pass by him.

"Wow…" Raymond thought to himself incredulously in awe, on the verge of passing by a frozen river underneath his feet. "This is insanely crazy…"

Raymond finally caught up to the Ice-Twister, almost slipping on the ice when he tried to stop. As he caught himself by holding onto the back of the machine, Cosmo and Galaxina came sliding up nearby.

"Tails..?" Cosmo worriedly called out, echoing around the ice cavern. "Hello…?"

Right at that moment, the cockpit hatch opened and a light-orange fox popped out, grinning.

"Wow! It worked!" Tails exclaimed as he scaled down the side of the Ice-Twister and pulled himself to the ground.

Raymond grinned back in reply. "I guess it did…" He vigilantly surveyed the area around them with wonder. "That's great that we can tunnel through the ice, but now how do we figure out where we are..? I mean, I can barely see what's right in front of us through the ice…"

Tails shrugged, and tried to peer through the walls of the ice cavern, only blurrily seeing basic shapes and the reflection of green grass surrounding them. "I have a GPS back in my workshop…"

"But I don't think the GPS will work when we're still trapped under 10 feet of snow." Raymond countered, pointing at the ceiling upwards.

"We can always try and tunnel a hole upwards…" Tails suggested, but Raymond shook his head.

"Wouldn't that be pretty dangerous..? If we're creating a tunnel through the ice and we try and break open the top, it's possible that the whole tunnel might collapse because of the lack of support…"

Tails sighed. "Yeah… I guess you're right…"

"Isn't there anything we can do to help?" Cosmo politely asked Tails and Raymond.

"Hmm… I think we're pretty much stuck here unless we figure out a way to tell which way we're going…" Tails pondered, rubbing his chin with one hand.

"Oka—woah!" Cosmo accidentally lost her footing and slipped, falling backwards towards the hard ice, only to have Tails catch her in midair, securely holding her by the waist.

"I gotcha!" Tails smiled kindly. "Try not to hurt yourself…" He righted Cosmo back on her feet steadily.

Cosmo blushed. "Sorry, I'm just a bit clumsy sometimes is all…" Embarrassed, she looked down at the ground below.

Tails laughed and waved it off. "No you're not Cosmo! Just be a bit more careful is all!"

"Do you have a map of Mobius by any chance, Tails?" Raymond wondered out loud.

"Uhh…" Tails scratched the back of his head in thought. "Now that I think about it, I might…"

"Well what we can do is use that map and a compass and find our direction from there!" Raymond encouragingly exclaimed, jabbing at the air in front of him in victory.

"That's definitely one way we can solve our problem…" Tails agreed, slowly nodding. "But you know Mobius is a pretty huge place! And using a map and compass is going to take a long time!"

Raymond nodded. "I know, but there really isn't another way… I mean all the ice blocks our usage of any GPS or tracking system, so yeah…"

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Tails exclaimed for the second time that day. "But I think it's best if we leave the Ice-Twister here. No point in bringing it back and out again…" Tails pointed out, his voice vibrating and echoing throughout the cavern.

"Besides, it's not like anyone would steal it or anything…" Tails explained, hopping impatiently one foot.

"Good idea, let's go back then!" Raymond concurred, starting to head back, seeing Tails' workshop in the distance.

As the four of them started their trek back to Tails' house, suddenly, Tails' spine started to tingle for no apparent reason… Unless…

"Raymond! I think one's nearby!" Tails abruptly called out, dropping to his knees and sifting through the piles of melted snow that the heat from the Ice-Twister's engines had created.

Raymond swiftly turned around. "One what?"

"A chaos emerald!" Tails exclaimed as his fingers suddenly wrapped around something hard and smooth. "I've got it!" He pulled out his hand from the snow only to find…

"Uhh…" Tails looked at the spherical block of ice he was holding in his hand. "Never mind…" His instinctive tingling suddenly went away, leaving him confused.

"A chaos emerald? Where?" Raymond wildly turned around, looking for the ever-telling glow that indicated one was nearby.

Tails sighed. "Sorry, false alarm. I thought I sensed one nearby…" He apathetically tossed the block of ice over his shoulder as it hit the back of the Ice-Twister with a clanging sound. "Let's go home now. I'm sure we're all pretty tired after all that building today…"

Raymond laughed lightly. "True.. We all deserve a good rest…" He and the rest of them silently made their way back, leaving the Ice-Twister behind. As their footsteps resounded off into the distance, something else sparkled by the base of the mechanism where Tails had thrown the block of ice. Something shiny… Something green… Something that seemed to emit some type of strange aura of power…

The green chaos emerald lay discarded in the snow by the Ice-Twister, sparkling and reflecting the light off of the walls of the ice-cavern. But maybe it was good that Tails didn't find it hiding inside of the block of ice, because they sure were going to need to conserve its energy for what lay ahead tomorrow…


	10. Chapter 10

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 56

Tails' house

5:05 am

Very early the next morning, Tails and the rest were already up, packing for their long "expedition" through the ice cavern. Raymond had suggested that they start as early as possible so that they could save and rescue people more quickly now when the ice would be starting to weaken and melt in the afternoon rather than start later and risk working at night when the ice hardened and made it tough to drill through. Small lanterns were placed in random places around the house, shining dimly, giving off an eerie glow the reflected off of the white painted walls. As Tails walked downstairs to where Raymond, Cosmo, and Galaxina were, he shivered slightly and wrapped his coat tighter around himself, his breath visible as a vapor in the in the early hours of the morning. Tails dragged a large suitcase behind him down the stairs, stopping to glance at the thermostat on the wall: -2 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Brr…." Tails' teeth audibly chattered. It was extremely strange and rare that a phenomenon like this blizzard would occur this early in fall, not to mention the bizarrely cold temperatures…

As he approached the living room, he hefted the suitcase on top of the table in the middle with a loud slam. On the couch, Cosmo and Galaxina were sleepily cuddling together for warmth, Raymond sitting a ways off to the side, tiredly resting his head on one hand. As Tails made his presence known, Raymond slowly got up and walked over to the middle table, where an array of other bags and luggage were laying under the table.

"Everything set?" Tails softly asked, breaking the silence.

Raymond slowly nodded. "You have the map and compass?"

"Yep." Tails replied. He unlocked the suitcase and pulled it open, yanking out an old map, dust flying everywhere. Tails also proceeded to whip out a high-tech looking device from his coat pocket, carefully brushing the dust off of the surface with his thumb. "Looks like we're all ready…"

Raymond sighed and looked at the clock by the kitchen counter: 5:08 am. "Well we have everything packed and ready to go in case anything happens while we're away drilling through the ice.."

"Do we have food? Clothes? Money?" Tails piped up questioningly.

Raymond smirked lopsidedly. "Why would we need money?" He stopped to think for a while, as if trying to figure something out. "Yeah… we have all our clothes.. and I remembered to pack enough food to last us for a while…"

"..I always feel like I'm missing something whenever I go out somewhere on a vacation.." Tails quietly muttered to Raymond, who laughed in response.

"I know how you feel.." Raymond stifled a yawn and stretched his shoulders and arms as Tails slowly ambled to where Galaxina and Cosmo were cuddling up with each other on the sofa and gently shook them awake.

"Cosmo… Galaxina…" Tails softly whispered. "It's time to go…"

Slowly, Cosmo yawned and woke up, Tails silently giggling at how cute she looked when she did that. "Hmm..? Tails..?" She sleepily asked, rubbing her eyes.

"It's time to go…" Tails repeated kindly. "That is, unless you're too tired, we don't have to go now…" He looked back over his shoulder at Raymond questioningly, who shrugged in response.

"I don't care, I'll go whenever everyone's all ready," Raymond answered back.

"No no, don't worry about me, I'm fine! I promise!" Cosmo suddenly replied, now wide awake. She quickly sat up straight, listening and paying attention intently.

"..Galaxina..?" Tails asked, but received no response as she was soundly sleeping.

Raymond laughed for the second time today, seeming pretty tired as well. "It's okay, I can carry her to the Ice-Twister and both of them can sleep in there while we drill through the ice."

Tails nodded. "Okay, that seems like a better idea. Besides.. I really don't want to wake her up when she's sleeping…"

As Raymond walked over to the sofa and gently picked up Galaxina in his arms, Tails picked up a couple of small bags and held hands with Cosmo as the four of them carefully made their way to the Ice-Twister that was parked right inside Tails' workshop, courtesy of Tails earlier this morning. As Raymond climbed up the side and opened the hatch on the top of the machine, he found the interior to be basically what one would normally except the inside of a van to look like. There was a driver's seat in the very front, a passenger's seat next to it, and a couch behind the two front seats. Behind the couch was a medium sized space that could be used to deposit any luggage or other stuff. As Raymond gently placed Galaxina in the back couch, sliding her over so that Cosmo could have room to sit and drift off to sleep again, and went back inside to get the luggage and place it in the trunk, he suddenly had a thought.

"Tails?" Raymond spoke up as he was hefting a few heavy bags towards the Ice-Twister.

"Yeah..?" Tails responded, clambering up the side of the Ice-Twister, Raymond heaving the bags up to where Tails could grab it and also pull it up over the side.

"Just wondering: How long do you think it'll take to drill through all of Mobius?" Raymond threw the last of the bags up to Tails, and as Tails dropped it in the trunk, Raymond scaled up the side of the Ice-Twister.

Tails slowly lowered himself into the driver's seat, Raymond doing the same in the passenger's seat by his side. "Uhh.. you know Mobius is a huge place!" He exclaimed matter-of-factly.

Raymond slowly nodded. "I know…"

"It could take weeks.. MONTHS for all we know!" Tails made a few quick calculations in his head as Raymond drummed his fingers on the side of the armrest.

Raymond nonchalantly shrugged. "It's okay, it's not like I have anything else better to do… Besides, since we have the only known machine that can drill through the ice, it's kinda our duty to use that to help free other people…"

Tails laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, you're right.." He agreed lightly.

Tails flicked the power switch on, and as the engine started up with a low hum, he grabbed the joysticks and thrust them forward as the engines revved up and the drill started to rotate faster and faster until it was a shining blur of stainless steel. Tails then expertly maneuvered the Ice-Twister down the narrow corridor of ice he had created the evening before, being careful not to bump into the side walls. As they continued at a mediocre pace down the thin stretch, the frozen scenery of the landscape slowly passing by, Tails suddenly turned around to face Raymond and spoke up.

"Raymond..?"

"Yeah?" This time it was Raymond's turn to reply to Tails' question.

"Just thought you might want to know, I found this while I was backing up the Ice-Twister into my workshop earlier this morning.." Tails reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the green chaos emerald, sparkling brilliantly, even in the dark morning.

"Where di—" Raymond was suddenly cut off as the drill made contact with the ice, signaling they has passed the point where they had stopped drilling yesterday. As the air was once again filled with the loud, unbearable screech, Tails immediately reached out to the dashboard and flicked a switch as the noise instantly disappeared.

"How-?" Raymond started to ask in bewilderment.

"Sound-proof. Thought it would be smart to add it this morning.." Tails curtly replied.

"Ahh…" Raymond trailed off. "Do you have a stereo system too?" He asked, half sarcastically.

Tails shook his head and laughed. "Actually I didn't think about that… That would have been really nice though…"

Tails and Raymond sat there in silence for a couple of minutes while the Ice-Twister vibrated slightly as it drilled through the ice, making their teeth audibly chatter from the cold as well as the trembling of the mechanism. Raymond sighed, his breath gently wafting about as a translucent vapor in the dim light of the cockpit as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself and yawned. Finally, after a while, he spoke up.

"Yeah… that woulda been nice…" Raymond trailed off, his voice slightly echoing in the confined space of the Ice-Twister. He glanced back over his shoulder at the sleeping figures of Cosmo and Galaxina. "Where did you find that chaos emerald by the way?"

Tails shrugged. "I found it stuck in the ice near the back of the Ice-Twister when I went to retrieve it this about an hour earlier.." He held out the palm of his hand and rested the chaos emerald on there, carefully balancing it as it wobbled around due to the continuous trembling of the Ice-Twister.

"So you say there are seven of them, right? I mean as well as the Master Emerald.." Raymond curiously asked.

"Yep," Tails nodded, closing his hand, clenching the chaos emerald tightly before slipping it into his coat pocket again. "Strange how I found it near my house after the blizzard happened, but I didn't before…"

Raymond shrugged. "Could be because there might have been strong winds or something that caused it to move locations.."

"Yeah.." Tails trailed off. "Wonder where the rest of them are though... I mean I thought they were all lost after our final conflict against the Meterex, but somehow I find one showing up at my doorstep!" Tails lightly joked, trying his best to lighten the tired, dull mood in the hull of the Ice-Twister.

"I don't know… Maybe the rest are still out somewhere in space then.. Could just be a coincidence that one happened to land right here.." Raymond pondered, leaning to the right and resting his head halfway on the headrest and the other half on the window. He casually shifted his eyes to use peripheral vision to watch the shards of ice and blurry forestry and grass pass by out of the corner of his eyes. Up ahead, the drill was still going at full speed, cleaving right through the ice like a hot knife would through butter.

"Can I see the map for a second, Tails..?" Tails nodded in response, and Raymond leaned over in his seat and carefully pulled out the map from the small bag lying near Tails' feet. He gently unfolded it, smoothening it out while trying to decipher it at the same time. "..I can't make heads or tails of this… Where's the closest house going to be?"

Tails laughed. "That would be Cream's house, but seeing as no one is home, it seems pointless to try to go in that direction."

"Oh.. What about Amy's house then?" Raymond asked, the hum of the Ice-Twister's engines barely audible in the background. Tails had turned the heater on, so the temperature inside the mechanism was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, easily more bearable than the -5 degrees outside…

"Hmm…" Tails gently pulled the joysticks he was holding and pushed them downwards, hearing a sharp "click". He then let go as the Ice-Twister kept on moving and drilling forwards as if nothing had happened.

"Autopilot? Really?" Raymond laughed. "Not to say that I'm incredibly surprised though…"

Tails grinned. "Why not? If we're going to be doing this for a while, then I don't see any reason not to install an autopilot…" He trailed off, scratching the back of his head in deep thought. "Can I see that map for a second, Raymond?"

"Sure.." Raymond passed possession of the map over to Tails, who leaned back in his chair and closely examined it.

"Hmm.." Tails pointed at a part on the map, very near the bottom-right corner. "See right there, that's about where my house should be located…" He carefully traced his finger northeast until he stopped at about 2 centimeters away from where he had indicated his house to be, still very close to the bottom-right corner, nowhere near the center. "That's Creams' house.."

"Uhuh.." Raymond slowly nodded, comprehending.

"That's about 4 miles away…" Tails slowly dragged his finger westwards to the direct left until he stopped, some ways away. Now his finger was pointing at a location about a several centimeters away from Cream's house, a few centimeters above the bottom edge of the map. "That's Amy's house I think… Which would mean they're about a good 15 miles away…" Tails made a few quick calculations in his head. "So if we're driving at about 5 miles an hour, we should reach there in 3 hours then!"

Raymond slowly nodded again, grinning. "'Miles' and 'Directions' I can't understand very well, but 'Hours' I can! 3 hours it is then!" He quickly checked the time that displayed on the dashboard: 5:39 am. "So I take it we'll reach there at…"

"About 8:39 am!" Tails finished cheerfully. "Right about when they're waking up, we can just ring the doorbell and—"

THUD!

"Wha—?" Tails started, startled.

Suddenly, the Ice-Twister collided with something as its drill stopped and the power shut off, enveloping everyone inside in a pitch black darkness…


	11. Chapter 11

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 57

Outcroppings of Green Hill Zone

5:41 am

…

Silence reigned in the pitch black of the interior of the Ice-Twister as Tails and Raymond remained sitting quietly in their seats.

"Wha…?" Tails leaned forward, gripping the sides of his armrests in apprehension. He reached out and grabbed one of the joysticks; wobbling it around, but to no avail.

"What's going on?" Cosmo had woken in the backseat when the low, comforting hum from the engines had abruptly stopped, sending the cockpit into total silence. She sat up in the seat, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering as the temperature started to sharply decrease without the heater on.

"I…" Tails trailed off as he squinted, trying to peer through the front windshield into the inky blackness. Without any light emitting from the Ice-Twister, the whole world seemed to fade away into nothingness…

Raymond stood up in his seat and experimentally reached out and tried to open the hatch above them, but finding it to be blocked by the ceiling of solid ice that rested above their heads, he shrugged and sighed dejectedly.

"Looks like we're trapped." Raymond stated exasperatedly, pounding his fist against the hatch in obvious frustration. "That's just great!"

"Hmm…" Tails started to fiddle with the controls again, nonchalantly pressing a few buttons on the dashboard. "I think the drill is stuck, that's why we can't move and why the power shut off…"

"What do you mean?" Raymond asked.

"Well…" Tails went on to explain. "I built the Ice-Twister basically as a large generator that would convert the mechanical energy from the spinning motion of the drill and to electrical energy that could be used to power the mechanism. In addition…"

"Woah woah hold it a second…" Raymond laughed. "You kinda lost me there…"

"Oh, sorry.." Tails grinned and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I do that sometimes when I get carried away…"

Raymond laughed again. "It's fine, don't worry…"

"Heh, well if you say so…" Tails tried to make his explanation seem more clear. "Basically, the spinning motion of the drill powers the Ice-Twister. So when the drill is stuck, as in this case, the power shuts off."

"Ah. Gotcha." Raymond replied. "So the drill is stuck, but how does that help us if we can't get out and free it?"

Tails shrugged in response. "I.. don't know…" He thought for a minute. "The hatch won't open, right?"

Raymond nodded. "The ice above our heads is blocking it…"

"I've got an idea: What if you used your fire power and melted the ice?"

Raymond hesitated. "Wait, what?"

Tails continued. "I mean, if you could melt the ice above the hatch, then it would melt into water, right? So then you'd be able to open it without any trouble…"

"Oh.." Raymond slowly nodded in agreement. "That's true… I could give it a shot…"

He carefully shifted positions in the cramped and confined space of the cockpit until he was standing under the hatch once again. As he did so, Tails stood up in his seat and closely watched from behind.

"Careful…" Raymond delicately balanced himself and lifted one hand; a small, free-flowing ball of fire appearing in the palm of his hand. As he held it against the bottom of the hatch, the temperature started to slightly increase, the noise of the fire crackling barely audible in the prevailing silence.

As Raymond continued to warm up the metal hatch, it started to slowly turn colors from light gray, to dark gray, to black, until it finally became white-hot. The sound of hissing as water on the top of the Ice-Twister made contact, instantly evaporating, was evident. In the back seat, Cosmo and Galaxina were already awake by now, realizing that something was wrong. As the two of them along with Tails continued to watch Raymond, he finally decided that it was enough, and punched upwards, blasting a hole through the pliable, heated metal. Small bits of white-hot metal rained down around him, and a torrent of ice-cold water poured in; dousing everybody.

"Brr…" Cosmo and Galaxina both shivered instinctively. It was already incredibly cold enough without having several gallons of ice-cold water soak you, chilling you to the bone. Raymond and Tails were fine as they at least had their fur to keep them somewhat warm, but the two seedrians were sensitive to the extreme cold.

"Whoops. Sorry about that." Raymond apologized as he cleared away the remains of the hatch, putting both hands through the hole and hoisting himself to the top of the Ice-Twister. He had to crouch and duck his head as the ceiling was still quite low, but he was able to scramble along the top towards the front of the mechanism.

"You alright up there?" Tails called down from the Ice-Twister. He was lounging on the back couch; Cosmo and Galaxina snuggled into his body on either side of him. Tails was trying his best to keep them warm through his own body heat.

"A-Ok." Raymond replied, then smirked. "You sure seem preoccupied down there…" He noticed and pointed out jokingly.

"Oh.." Tails blushed a crimson red. "Well I mean otherwise if one is exposed to the extreme cold when your body is wet as water is a poor insulator of heat, it causes one to lose immense amounts of body temperature which can ultimately lead to hypothermia or…."

Raymond laughed, losing track of Tails' rambling. "I gotcha. It's okay." He drew back from the edge of the cockpit and expertly maneuvered himself to the front, melting the ice along the way with his fire as small puddles of water started to form. As he began to create a small "passageway" along the top of the Ice-Twister, more and more space was made available as Raymond continued his slippery journey.

Once he reached where the front would be but was blocked by the wall of ice in front of him, he stopped and punched through it. Once. Twice. Thrice. Finally, the ice gave away due to its weakening from the heat and it shattered to reveal the top of the drill. As the wall of ice cleared, Raymond could peer through the front windshield of the Ice-Twister and see Tails waving from the driver seat.

"…" Raymond waved back, then set to work on clearing the rest of the drill.

"Watch out! The drill might start up at any moment.. Make sure that once you clear it, that you don't accidentally get hurt or anything…" Tails warned, his voice muffled a bit by the thick glass from inside the cockpit. In response, Raymond turned around to look back over his shoulder and grinned, flashing a thumbs up.

"No problemo! Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Raymond continued melting the ice away, evaporating the remaining water as it dissipated into the atmosphere.

Finally, the entire area around drill was all clear; a chasm created by the lack of ice where Raymond had thawed it away. As Raymond started to scramble back, something through the ice got his attention out of the corner of his eyes.

"Woah! Hold on a second!" Raymond abruptly put his hands to the side of the ice and pushed as a whole sheet of ice fell away to reveal a long tunnel that seemed to go on forever in the distance. "Cool! Tails! Come over here!"

Instantly, Tails was at his side; Cosmo and Galaxina following closely behind. He gaped at the hidden corridor in awe. "Woah… Looks like someone's been here before, but who could it be..?" Tails stooped down and picked up a small piece of metal, examining it by rubbing it between his index and fore fingers.

"Eggman." Raymond and Tails both stated and looked at each other.

"Great…" Raymond groaned. "I should have figured Eggman would have the intelligence to build something like the Ice-Twister to burrow through the ice…"

"Yep.." Tails agreed solemnly. "I can't say I'm very surprised either… Well what do we do now?"

Silence prevailed as the four of them stared down the tunnel in silence, thinking of a reply.

Finally, Raymond spoke up: "Well I'd like to go down and find out what Eggman's been up to the past couple of days…"

"And if you're going, there's no way I'm not coming with you!" Galaxina responded, worriedly taking Raymond's hand in her own.

"And I'm coming too!" Tails and Cosmo both replied until Raymond shook his head.

"Wait hold on a second…" He turned to face Tails. "All of us can't go at the same time…"

"Why not?"

"Because someone needs to inform Sonic and the rest. Someone at least needs to travel… What was it; 3 hours?" Tails nodded as Raymond continued. "Someone needs to go to Sonic while the rest of us stay here."

"How about Tails and Cosmo both go to Sonic? It's too dangerous for them to encounter Eggman alone…" Galaxina stated, her breath turning into a vapor in the extremely cold air.

"Why? I wanna fight Eggman too!" Tails countered bravely, his eyes alight.

"Come on Tails," Raymond pleaded desperately. "You're the only one that knows how to drive the Ice-Twister. You have to warn Sonic and get them to come back us up!"

Tails sighed dejectedly and rolled his aqua-blue eyes. "Fine…" He started to head back to the Ice-Twister, but was stopped when Raymond suddenly placed one hand on his shoulder. "What?" Tails turned back around to face Raymond expectantly.

Raymond smirked. "Sorry if I'm being a bit rough, but imagine how Sonic would kill me if I let something bad happen to you…"

Tails managed a small laugh as he started to think about Sonic's reaction. For some reason, that thought seemed hilarious to him. "It's okay, I understand." Tails replied. He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a headset. "Here, take this." Tails handed it to Raymond, who curiously inspected it. "It's a com-link headset. I have another one, so I'll be able to contact you within a fifteen mile radius. If you don't venture too far, I'd still be able to reach you from Amy's house.

Raymond nodded and grinned. "Okay, I got it." He positioned the headset on the top of his head and pulled the mouthpiece closer to the side of his muzzle. "Hello? Hello?"

Tails laughed. "Here, you have to turn it on." He flicked a switch on the side of the com-link and the sound of quiet static became audible in the background.

"Ah. Okay; I see." Raymond turned the headset off and grinned. "Thanks."

"Welcome." He grinned. "So… I guess this is where we part and say goodbye?"

Raymond laughed. "You're making it sound like we're leaving forever or something…" He joked.

Tails shrugged. "Well… bye! Don't die while we're gone!"

Galaxina smiled and affectionately ruffled Tails' muzzle with one hand. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine!"

With that, Tails and Cosmo started to head back to the Ice-Twister. As they did so, they turned around one last time and waved goodbye. "See ya! Be careful!"

Raymond and Galaxina waved back in response. "Bye! Don't worry, we will!" They turned around and headed into the foreboding entrance of the long tunnel while Tails and Cosmo hopped into the Ice-Twister and turned the engine on again, continuing to drill in the direction of Sonic's house. As the four of them parted ways, one thought was running through their minds, even though they didn't dare mention it out loud:

"When would the next time they saw each other be…?"


	12. Chapter 12

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 58

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere…

6:36 am

It had been nearly 45 minutes since Tails and Cosmo had left to Amy's house to inform them about the suspicious activity Eggman had been up to lately. It had also been 45 minutes since Raymond and Galaxina had left the rendezvous point; now quite a distance into the tunnel…

They had walked 3 miles? 4 miles? Raymond didn't know anymore, but he knew for certain that every step he took led him one step away from his friends and one step closer to danger and Eggman. Or Eggman's base, rather. At one point along the journey, he had theorized that Eggman would be most likely moving in the direction towards his headquarters after tunneling out here for whatever reason…

As Raymond and Galaxina silently walked along the grotto, he noticed faint indentions in the normally smooth walls; dark gray stains blemishing the pearly white ice. Puddles of melted water were evident all over the place. The slippery ice beneath their feet was starting to thin as the very tips of grass poked up here and there, dotting the floor with specks of green. The constant dripping sound of water melting from the ceiling echoed in the distance of the cavern. There really was no doubt about it; some type of machine had been through here before. And there was no one else to point fingers at besides Eggman really…

"Odd…" Raymond mumbled under his breath. For some reason he couldn't explain, the temperature was also a bit hotter than normal. At least above 10 degrees… Normally a minute change like that wouldn't have been noticed, but with adrenaline pumping through Raymond's body, his senses and reactions were working in overtime, hearing and seeing the slightest nuances and details of the surrounding landscapes.

"Raymond?" Galaxina asked softly, catching Raymond's attention.

"Hmm?" He replied, tracing a finger along the icy solid wall.

"Do you suppose Eggman is really behind this?" She anxiously asked, rubbing her hands together to keep herself warm. As she breathed, a translucent mist wafted out, swirling around the atmosphere until it dissipated.

Raymond kicked a block of ice with his shoe soccer-style, watching it slide into the distance until it hit the far wall and bounced off, slowly skidding to a stop. "Probably…"

"Why does he keep doing this? What does he want?" Galaxina intentionally wrapped her arms around herself, even though strangely the temperature seemed to be rising by the second.

Raymond sighed. "I don't know.. World Domination?" He unconsciously jabbed out at the wall, feeling the contact of his fist on solid ice. His effort made no impact whatsoever though, as the wall stayed intact. "That's what all stereotypical evil geniuses want, right?"

"Mhmm…" Galaxina slowly nodded, agreeing. "But haven't you ever wondered why? Why they want more power or world domination? Haven't you wondered if there's really a ulterior motive or secret cause behind it?"

"Uhh.." Raymond shrugged and laughed. "No, not really…" The temperature really was rising. More and more puddles and melting ice was definitely evident as the atmosphere seemed almost humid.

"Haven't you thought about why Eggman might want to have more power?" Galaxina asked again, trying to make a point.

"Nope. Never occurred to me while I was busy owning him in our battle." Raymond joked, trying to lighten the situation. "Why, have you?"

"Well…" Galaxina sighed. "A bit, but not really. Just wondering…"

"Ah I se—" Raymond was looking sideways at Galaxina when he tripped over one of the many shrapnel pieces of ice, sending him flying forwards out of balance.

As he toppled through the air, Raymond accidentally collided into the side wall as it suddenly gave way. As he crashed through, the ice shattering around him, Raymond flailed out his arms to try to balance himself as he fell, catching ahold of something. Surprised, Raymond looked up into the face of…

"Woah! Holy crap!" Raymond immediately leapt up and shielded his face. However, after a few moments passed and nothing happened, Raymond slowly, cautiously uncovered his face and peered at the metallic scorpion robot in front of him. Its machine gun was pointed straight at Raymond; its razor sharp tail raised threateningly in the air; it's sharp claws opened wide as if to snap Raymond up. But it wasn't moving. By crashing through the ice, Raymond had uncovered the robot that was previously frozen in a block of ice. He experimentally reached out and knocked on the scorpion's head.

THONK

Nothing. Raymond laughed in relief and scratched the back of his head. "Well now I'm 'wondering' what his motive for leaving a scorpion trapped here in the ice is," Raymond took a few steps backwards to examine the ice-covered robot. "Doesn't look like it's going to be attacking anymore people anytime soon."

Galaxina joined Raymond by his side, also inspecting the scorpion-like machine as he spoke up again: "Maybe on the way back to his base, Eggman got caught in the snow storm and was trapped under the ice. So that's why he tunneled out from where he was originally after the blizzard stopped back towards his base. Maybe that's the real reason behind this."

"What about why the temperature is getting hotter?" Galaxina wondered out loud.

"So she had noticed it too…" Raymond thought to himself as he shrugged and answered. "Maybe the machine he used to burrow through the ice generated heat from its engines. That's definitely possible."

"PLAUS-ible." Tails corrected as his voice slightly crackled over the com-link headset, making Raymond start slightly in surprise.

"Where'd you come from?" Raymond asked over the communicator, amplifying his voice so that it would be easier to hear on the other side. As his voice echoed around the cavern, he could barely hear the hum from the engines of the Ice-Twister in the background as Tails spoke up again.

"I've been 'here' the whole time," Tails laughed. "But you're right, I think that could be the reason."

Raymond silently nodded in acknowledgment. "Where are you by the way? If this really does lead to Eggman's base, we can get Sonic and Knuckles and try to surprise-attack Eggman."

"I'm a little less than 10 miles away from Amy's house… So 2 hours then." Tails added before Raymond could ask.

"Cool. And I have no idea where we are." Raymond replied, once again examining his surroundings. The thick wall of ice made looking at the entrapped scenery too blurry and distorted to make out. The only sign of life was the tufts of grass randomly appearing in places on the floor, along with some large rocks and the occasional tree trunk where Eggman had obviously run over it while excavating his way through. But it was completely burnt to a crisp, which was unusual, if not strange…

"It's okay. The Com-Link will tell us where you are, so there's no need to worry." Tails' responsive voice over the headset interrupted Raymond's thoughts, making him refocus in the present time.

"Alright…" Raymond's thoughts drifted off again as he pricked his ears up and sensed something in the far distance, slowly moving. Was it moving their way? Was it on their side or with Eggman? Raymond didn't know…

"Raymond!" Raymond jumped, startled as Tails laughed. "I'm losing you; is everything alright over there?"

"Yeah…" Yep. Something was definitely coming their way, faster by the second. "Just hold on a second; I'll call you back…" Raymond clicked off the Com-Link as he crouched down a bit, bracing himself.

"Umm.. Raymond? What exactly are you doing?" Galaxina asked, worriedly placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Shh..!" Raymond immediately placed a finger to his lips and motioned for him and Galaxina to move silently into the small hole where the scorpion-machine was located, concealing themselves as the sound of footsteps was barely audible in the distance, but growing increasingly louder. As the two crept into the compartment, invisible to anyone outside who might be taking a casual glance, the noise of talking echoed through the cavern as whoever Raymond had sensed suddenly walked closer and closer until they were near where the two of them were just standing moments ago. They could barely make out the words as Raymond and Galaxina huddled together in apprehension.

"Ooh, boss isn't gonna like this!" the first person spoke up in a high-pitched, whiny voice as the noise of feet shuffling on the icy floor resonated, the crunch of snow underfoot. Raymond couldn't identify the figure, nor could Galaxina.

"Shut up! Just keep on looking!" The second voice was more deeper, yet… metallic-ish? Raymond suddenly wondered if the he and Galaxina left any traces of footprints in the snow…

"Ah both of you shut up!" The third voice slightly resembled the second, yet it was more natural and higher-pitched.

"How about ALL of you shut up! NONE of you are helping!" The last voice spoke in a commanding, deep, harsh, raspy tone, sounding like he was the leader of the group.

As Raymond and Galaxina still lay concealed in the small fissure, both of them could already tell the people outside were definitely not friends. Raymond was starting to feel his feet tingle, signaling that it was starting to fall asleep. His other leg was cramping as well, aching for more room. But there was no way he could give any indication that the two of them were hiding…

"They should be here SOMEwhere!" The first voice spoke up again in his tinny, irritating tone of voice. "Boss SAID so!"

As the voices outside were toned down slightly so Raymond couldn't make out the words anymore, it suddenly occurred to him that 'they' might been him and his friends.

"…of them!" the third person's voice finished its previous inaudible statement.

"So where's the others?" The second voice piped up as the sound of shuffling and moving increased.

"Maybe they're here!" Raymond and Galaxina jumped slightly as the third voice seemed to suddenly come from right outside the opening to the fissure they were hiding in.

"No.. please…no…" Raymond silently thought as the sound of scrambling increased right outside. He was sure they were going to be discovered, the person coming closer and closer until…

"Ah, give it a break will ya! They're not here! Let's move it already!" the fourth person commanded in an irritated tone of voice, prompting the third person right outside to withdraw and Raymond and Galaxina let out a sigh of relief.

"We've walked SO far! And we've only found one! Where the hell can the rest be! Boss—"

"Give it a BREAK about what 'Boss' says, alright? Geez!" The fourth voice cut off the first into silence as the second voice spoke up:

"This isn't good at ALL!.." He trailed off as they rest continued their inaudible conversation, arguing about something.

As Raymond leaned forwards slightly to try to figure out what they were saying, one of his tails involuntarily waved around as it danced across Galaxina's face, brushing lightly against the tip of her nose. She tried to move it away with her hands, but realized that they were stuck under her body. Moving to set them free or telling Raymond to stop would cause too much noise, so she had to endure the suffering as Raymond 'wagged' his tail again, causing Galaxina to feel a funny sensation in her nose…

"Ahh….Ahh…" Raymond whipped his head around to see Galaxina slowly breathing, her eyes half-closed, her mouth open.

"Umm..?" Raymond was about to ask when she interrupted him again.

"Ahhhh…" She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as Raymond suddenly realized what was happening.

"Ohh… Crap." In a split second, he leaned backwards and suddenly embraced Galaxina, gently pressing her face against his chest fur as she sneezed:

"Achoo!" Thankfully, the sound was immensely muffled by Raymond's fur, yet he still sat completely stock-still as the people outside were instantly silent, causing Raymond's heart to drop.

"Uhh.. did you hear something?" The third person wondered out loud, suspicion and a bit of seriousness evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I think it came from over—"

"Shut up! Dang it we don't have all day, let's GO!" The fourth person again cut off the first voice and the sound of scrambling and moving outside started to increase as their footsteps on the ice grew more and more distant until it retreated into the distance, prompting Galaxina to stir and break away from Raymond's secure embrace.

As the two of them wordlessly made their way back outside, nothing seemed to have changed. Thankfully, the ice and grass underneath their feet made their previous footprints non-existent, no traces that the two of them had been there available to the mysterious group of people.

"Sorry about that," Galaxina apologized. "I was trying to tell you, but-"

Raymond smiled and shrugged. "Don't worry, it's fine." He stooped down and picked up a handful of snow in his hand, carefully examining and analyzing it. As he did so, something caught his attention in the pile of snow, and as he picked it out, he involuntarily groaned and reached for his Com-Link Headset, turning it on.

"What-?" Galaxina started to ask.

"I think it's time we better head back before things start to get dangerous and go out of control." Raymond replied, turning his headset on and starting to walk back in the direction they came from.


	13. Chapter 13

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 59

Somewhere out in space…

A certain black hedgehog was trekking along the surface of a barren, arid planet, his red-shaded quills matching the color of the ground beneath his feet. He had miraculously survived; yes. Did he stop to question his existence? No. He had only the willpower to keep on meticulously moving onwards through the swirling rust-colored dust, as if only the process of treading his feet along the ground help him continue his existence.

No, his continued existence didn't faze him at all; life was just another phase to him. Nothing surprised or made him feel any other emotions. The only emotion he really had was apathy; apathy towards everything and everyone else but himself. He was foolish to feel anything else…

He paused for a moment to glance upwards at the barren night sky, seeing the dark blanket twinkling with the occasional star as he finally broke the silence and whispered under his breath.

"…What happened…? …Who am I…? …Why am I here…? …What's my purpose…?" The black hedgehog trailed off into the gloomy silence that prevailed.

Obviously he had not forgotten his 'heroic' alliance with Sonic and friends against the Meterex, but was rather questioning it. Or rather, himself. What was he really fighting for? What was he meant to do in life? He thought back to their final battle, where he teamed up with his arch nemesis, Sonic, and helped fight the alien Meterex. And even when they were defeated, he attempted to revive Cosmo after she sacrificed herself to save them all. He had never thought of anyone else before; only himself and what was good for him. Yet… he had been overcome with a different, new emotion… One that was still tearing at him from the inside at his heart. What was it? What made him do what he did? Was he a totally different person now? That thought alone scared Shadow for some reason, making him try to rid his mind of all these thoughts. Yet they kept on persisting, attacking, consuming him from the inside…

Regret. And Remorse. That was it. Shadow couldn't bring himself to admit it, but as he continued his journey over the sloping dunes and rocky craters, he knew that for the first time in his entire period of existence, he; Shadow the hedgehog, had been caught off guard by Cosmo's sacrifice.

He thought back to when on Chris' world, he had "sacrificed" himself for everyone by stopping the Ark from falling on the Earth. Why had he done that then? He could easily chalk the reason up to his promise to Maria to save and protect people, not harm them. But why had he done the same thing against the Meterex? As much as Shadow wanted to say the same reason, he knew it wasn't true. Watching Cosmo do something he couldn't do; destroying the Meterex, had humbled him. And he should justly be angry at her for depriving him of his vengeance for Molly. Yet he was almost… sad? Shadow didn't know what he felt; he was too scared to admit the real reason. So he lied to himself and pretended that it was because he was apologetic for trying to kill Cosmo earlier. Yeah. That was it; nothing more.

Shadow's ponderings were interrupted when he picked up the sound of people talking and other noises in the distance. He pricked his ears up and frowned slightly, not that it was noticeable on his stoic-like face. Were there really people here on his far-away distant planet?

Shadow cautiously crept closer and closer to the source of the commotion, being careful not to make a noise. As the sounds increased and he heard people shouting, he scaled the top of a rocky ledge and peered down below.

The first thing he noticed was the colossal, gleaming space-ship; vaguely resembling an aircraft carrier. He was certain it could probably fit all of Mobius in one of its many compartments, not to mention its gigantic engines. Nearby was amassed a multitude of anamorphic animals all feasting around various bonfires, just like the ones on Mobius. Except these ones didn't look like the typical peaceful woodland creatures. At least Shadow was sure your everyday woodland animal didn't wear high-tech body armor and carry an AK-47 with strings of bullets wrapped around their bodies, dangling freely. He moved position on the narrow outcropping and did a very rough estimate; maybe less than a million. Probably seven hundred thousand at the least. Shadow softly whistled; what were they doing here all out in space? Was this another space-army like the Meterex to fight?

He quickly snapped his head around, startled when he heard the sound of bushes rustling nearby. Lacking a chaos emerald and therefore much of his ability to fight, Shadow barely had time to conceal himself in a narrow fissure on the side of the rock wall when three figures emerged with freshly killed game from around the area. He remained silent as he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"…said?" The conversation was started in mid-sentence he hear the first voice speak up.

"Yep. Next morning, we'll head out again in search of Raymond." As the second voice replied, Shadow craned his head to try and see if he could catch a glimpse of the people talking. Nope; no such luck.

"Malcolm's frustrated though. Flash has literally disappeared off of the map; we can't get any contact with him. We just have to hope he finds his way to where Raymond is…" The third voice answered, as Shadow once again tried to peer out.

"Malcolm's sent a scout though, says that Raymond's located on this planet called 'Mobius'. Did he tell you that?" As the second voice replied, Shadow raised one eyebrow. Mobius? Raymond? Suddenly their conversation was getting more and more interesting by the second.

"Yeah, I heard about that." The first voice answered. "I think he managed to mention that to Flash before we lost connection, so there's hope."

"I've heard about 'Mobius' too; when we had the Meterex as allies back in Newark, I picked up some information. There's some sort of silly gang of hedgehogs and other friends that thinks they're so cool and awesome by 'saving the day' from this fat scientist!" The third voice joked, drawing sarcastic laughter from the other two.

"That's good then. They'll probably get all cocky when we invade, until we set 'em straight and send 'em flying onto their backs." The first voice replied sadistically, his voice dripping with nastiness.

"Yeah. I heard there's this blue hedgehog that can run in circles at the speed of sound. And then this other unimportant red hedgehog that can do these silly magic tricks to make himself disappear. I think it's safe to say we won't meet much resistance…" The third voice laughed again humorously.

These people teamed up with the Meterex? They were going to attack Sonic and friends? Maybe Shadow would have let that go if they hadn't called him "unimportant" and call his chaos control attack "a silly magic trick". Angered, Shadow leapt from the fissure out into the open to encounter the three assailants. As he jumped into the open, he immediately spotted his three targets; a sand-brown colored fox, a white-colored fox, and a dark-gray weasel. Noticing Shadow's quick introduction, they quickly formed a circle around him, blocking any method of escape.

"Well, well… What do we have here?" The white-colored fox taunted, throwing back one side of his coat to reveal a large array of razor-sharp daggers.

"It's that magician hedgehog I was talking about! Mind if you show us some of your tricks?" The sand-colored fox grinned, cracking up hilariously at his own joke. He reached behind his back and pulled out a wickedly-vicious looking spike mace, twirling it expertly.

Shadow scowled and crossed his arms. "I…. AM… SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG! CHAOS SPEAR!" And with that, he flung his arms out as several beams of light flung out at the sand-colored fox, almost smirking when Shadow imagined what pain his enemies would be going through. However, his mood changed to wonder and disappointment when a wall of sand rose up from the ground and blocked the chaos spears, which were absorbed instantly.

As the wall of sand fell away, Shadow could see the three adversaries laughing at him, almost doubled over in the hilarity of Shadow's feeble attempt.

"That was great! I loved how you made those light beams come out of nowhere! You've really got to teach me that sometime!" The sand-colored fox ridiculed, sneering.

Shadow snarled. "I refuse to be treated like a JOKE! Fight me already!"

Instantly, his body was frozen solid as the white-fox sprayed a translucent gas all over him. "There, I think that should stop you from accidently hurting yourself. You know; don't play with those light thingies or else you might poke your eye out!" All three of them laughed again, mocking Shadow's attempts to move.

"What the-!" Shadow couldn't move at all.

"Aww man! Did you really have to freeze him Luke? He was just about to teach me another magic trick!" The sand-colored fox burst out laughing maniacally again as he doubled over.

Luke sighed. "Shut up Garry, let's actually figure out what to do with this clown." He pointed at the unmoving form of Shadow.

The dark-gray weasel, silent until now, spoke up. "Take him to Malcolm; maybe he can give us some information about Mobius and Sonic."

Garry nodded assent and recovered himself, turning to face Shadow. "You got a name?"

Shadow shook his head. "I'm not telling you." He added defiantly.

Luke shrugged. "Suit yourself. Come on; let's go." Garry and Luke each grabbed Shadow by either side and started to drag him through the enemy camp. As they passed by the scores of large bonfires and warriors eating; the smell of various food all over the place, the two foxes, led by who Shadow figured out to be Needler, made their way to the base of the space-craft. Here was assembled a small group of relatively more intelligent looking animals than the rabble back at the campsite. Standing on top of a small podium was a black fox, dressed very sharply in what appeared to be a highly decorative uniform. Shadow was surprised when he sensed some type of energy aura emitting from him. Chaos Energy? Possibly.

His thoughts were interrupted when Garry and Luke flung him to the ground as his face collided with the dusty surface of the planet. It didn't hurt physically as much as mentally though; the thought of he, Shadow the Hedgehog, being humbled and treated this way. Already his limbs had thawed, and he had regained possession and control of his muscles. Escape wouldn't necessarily be a good idea though, and neither would fighting. So Shadow satisfied himself with a reproachful look at Garry and Luke, both of whom glared back.

"What's this? Explain yourselves." The black fox nonchalantly examined Shadow with barely any trace of curiosity showing on his facial features. Already, Shadow was feeling more and more dislike for him.

Luke coughed and nudged Garry to speak, who started. "Well.. uhh.. we found him on our way back from hunting, and he tried to attack us, but we easily captured him and brought him to you, Malcolm."

Malcolm grimaced. "First of all, it's 'Sir'. Secondly, why the hell do you think I'd be interested in him?" Malcolm gestured at Shadow's scowling form. "You should have just spared me the trouble and killed him."

Needler spoke up. "Sir, I thought you might want to use him. He comes from the planet where Raymond is currently hiding; Mobius. You might be able to pry some information out of him…"

As much as Shadow disliked Sonic, there was no way whatsoever he was going to tell this gang of thugs anything about him and his friends. One of the animals standing by, a some type of dark-green animal, cautiously approached Shadow and nudged him with one foot, only to jump backwards when Shadow whipped around and lashed out menacingly.

The rest of the group laughed as the green animal recovered his dignity. "Careful Sludge, he bites!" Shadow growled and remained sitting stoically, an escape plan already forming in his mind.

Suddenly, from behind Shadow, an immense force hit him right on the head, knocking him out cold immediately. As Shadow toppled over, Juggernaut picked up his limp form and swung him over on his shoulder, heading inside the space-craft.

"You're right, maybe he'll provide some useful information. Take him to the prison cells. I'll deal with him later." Malcolm called out as the automatic doors of the spacecraft closed shut behind Juggernaut and Shadow…


	14. Chapter 14

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 60

8:48 am

On a lone, empty, foggy battlefield valiantly stood an elaborately dressed King. He was clothed in all black; his jewelry and decorative ornaments clinking in the silence. His long cape swirled past his body in the arid wind. As his ornamented crown rested on his head, he paused to glance upwards at the dark sky; it wouldn't be long before they were here soon.

As if in response, a knight dressed in gleaming white armor suddenly appeared from the fog, galloping directly towards the helpless King. As the knight raised his long battle sword up high over his head menacingly, the King scrambled backwards, trying to flee. Yet as he turned to escape, behind him out of the shadows loomed another stoic white-armored warrior, a vicious spiked mace in hand. The King's heart dropped stone cold as he realized it was all over.

"Rggh!" Knuckles flung the chess piece at the nearby wall in frustration as Sonic sat by with a prideful smirk on his face. "You…" Knuckles pointed a finger threateningly at Sonic. "You cheated!"

"Eh." Sonic shrugged apathetically. "That's what you always say. Haven't you stopped to think about the possibility that I just might be better than you?"

Knuckles shook his head vigorously. "No I swear I saw you move that piece when you weren't supposed to!"

Sonic snickered. "And the pizza man is going to show up at our door this instant with two large pepperoni pizzas just for you!"

DING DONG!

Knuckles and Sonic immediately snapped their heads around to look at each other in amazement.

"I didn't—" Sonic started to say before Knuckles brushed past him and raced down the stairs shouting.

"I got it!" Amy emerged from the living room with Cream by her side just as Knuckles bounded down the stairs and flung the door wide open to reveal Tails and Cosmo standing on the front porch.

"Hey—" Was all Tails had time to spit out before he narrowly jumped out of the way to avoid Knuckles running him over.

"FREEEEEDOOOOM!" Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs, falling to his knees in the snow and flinging his arms out wide in front of him.

"Uhh…" Tails just stood there in dumbfounded silence, watching Knuckles bend over and kiss the ground rapidly out of sheer happiness. "What—"

"Don't ask." Sonic joined Tails and Cosmo by the terrace, rolling his eyes. "But where did you guys come from? Weren't you trapped by the ice?"

Tails turned behind him and gestured at the corridor through the ice that they had tunneled through. "I didn't have the chance to tell you guys, but me and Raymond built this machine I named the "Ice-Twister" that was able to drill through the solid ice. That's how we managed to come here."

Sonic smirked. "Why do I even question your ability to do anything..?"

Tails grinned. "Haha.. thanks!" As he brushed the flecks of snow off of his fur on his body, he and Cosmo both made their way inside Amy's house, pausing to stomp their feet on the welcome mat to dislodge the snow stuck on the soles of their shoes.

"Hi Tails! Hi Cosmo!" Cream beamed and came running over to greet the two, followed by her blue chao, Cheese.

"Hi Cream!" Cosmo smiled and warmly replied back, waving.

"Hi Cream!" Tails also smiled and waved before Cosmo and Cream started to talk enthusiastically with each other, immersing themselves in a friendly conversation after not seeing each other for a while.

Amy joined Cream and Cosmo, and hurriedly took Cosmo's wet coat off of her. "You're going to catch a cold if you keep this on Cosmo!" She gently chided, folding Cosmo's coat before tossing it into the laundry basket in the laundry room.

"Oh, sorry.." Cosmo quickly apologized.

Amy kindly smiled. "No need to be! Just try to be more careful next time!" She replied. Amy usually treated Cosmo like a younger sister, taking care of her but at the same time going out of her way to be nice. Even when Amy would get frustrated and angry at Knuckles and Sonic, there was never a time when she would act that way to Cosmo or Cream.

The front door opened, and Sonic emerged from outside, walking over to where Tails was situated. "Heya how've you been doing by the way?"

Tails shrugged. "I've been doing fine, more or less. What about you?"

Sonic laughed. "Oh I can probably say I had the time of my life trying to prevent a nuclear war between Knuckles and Amy happening…"

Tails winced, twitching one eye involuntarily. "Ouch!"

Sonic smirked. "Tell me about it!" He paused, and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose.

"Ahh…" Sonic sighed. "It's so good to finally breathe fresh air again…" He slowly opened one eye, a questioning facial expression clouding his face. "Where's Raymond and Galaxina?"

Tails gave a sudden start and smacked himself on the forehead. "That's right! I didn't tell you that either! I totally forgot all about them!"

Sonic opened the other eye and scratched the back of his head in thought. "So… Where are they again?"

Tails tried to explain. "Well on the way here, we encountered another tunnel that Raymond and I suspected to be the work of Eggman. We agreed that he and Galaxina would go down there to search and find out what Eggman was up to while Cosmo and I came here to find you guys. Then we were supposed to go back and help Raymond and Galaxina…"

Sonic yawned, and stretched his arms. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go already!" He replied enthusiastically, ready to go out on another adventure again.

Tails reached for his headset and turned it on. "Wait, let me contact Raymond first.." He positioned the mouthpiece over his mouth and spoke into it: "Hello?"

…..

"Hello? Raymond? Galaxina? Anybooodyyy?" Tails called out, but received no reply.

"Hmm.. That's strange, maybe they're out of range…" Tails thought out loud, as Knuckles, Amy, Cosmo, and Cream all gathered around the silent headset in anticipation.

"Yeah? What's up?" Raymond's voice sharply cut through the buzzing static, prompting Tails to let out a silent sigh of relief. Maybe they hadn't encountered Eggman yet..

Tails' mind was immediately filled with unanswered questions, on the verge of dying with curiosity. "Where are you? What have you been up to? What did you find? What's Eggman doing? Is—"

Tails was cut off as Raymond laughed. "Wait what? Ask one question at a time before you scramble my brain."

"Where are you?" Tails curiously asked. "I mean, you would have to be near our original rendezvous point in order for us to contact you since the range is exactly 15 miles away."

"Yep," Raymond replied. "That's where we are now."

"What have you been up to then?" Tails asked secondly.

"Well…" Raymond sighed. "Actually I have some bad news for you guys…"

"Really? What is it?" Tails wondered out loud in anxiety.

Raymond started to explain what he and Galaxina had been doing. "You see, after you dropped me and Galaxina off, we started to walk down the passageway. But on the way, I discovered one of Eggman's scorpion-like robots frozen in the ice, which would indicate that Eggman and his army probably would have been trapped in the snowstorm and tunneled himself out after the blizzard abated."

Tails slowly nodded. "I know, you told me that, remember? What happened after we lost contact with you after you found that scorpion-robot?"

"Well me and Galaxina were about to continue on when I heard some talking up ahead, so I concealed ourselves as a group of four unidentified people walked by. As they started to talk, I eavesdropped and listened to their conversation. I managed to figure out that they most likely weren't on our side and that they were looking for something…"

"Did you find out what it was?" Tails asked.

"Nope. But after they left, I examined the ground where they were standing and found a piece of metal."

"You found a piece of metal? What's that have to do with anything?" This time it was Sonic spoke clearly into the com-link headset.

Raymond sighed. "And here's where the bad news starts to come in. You have to understand, it's not any ordinary type of metal. As soon as I saw it, I immediately recognized it to be special.."

"Well what is it then?" Sonic asked.

"It's a piece of Titanium-Carbonate. Very highly resistant to heat." Raymond answered.

"So… what's that supposed to mean again?"

"Well first off, it's the exact same material my mechanical wrist-bands are made out of, because of its useful property. Secondly, remember how Eggman created Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles to try to counteract you and Knuckles?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well," Raymond continued. "This has made me come to believe that Eggman also created a metal impersonation of myself, namely "Metal Raymond"."

"But we can just beat him too, can't we? I mean it's just him against all of us, right?" Tails asked in anxiety.

"Well, that's not exactly the reason why I'm worried right now though…" Raymond replied.

"Why? What's wrong?" Tails wondered.

"Well let's just say that as an inference off of my observations, "Metal Raymond" has been tunneling through the ice by melting it with his fire-power." Raymond explained.

"So, why is that bad again?" Sonic asked, but was answered by Tails as he immediately caught on.

"Oh I see! By tunneling through the ice by melting it, that makes the walls and ceiling much more unstable and possibly fall, posing a hazard to Raymond and Galaxina. And they're trapped since they're far away from us or any other forms of shelter." Tails explained to the rest as the seriousness of the situation set in slowly.

"Well, you're right on one part; I can already see cracks forming in the surrounding walls. But I'm not too far away from shelter actually… I'm thinking about running to Eggman's base and hiding there before the ceiling comes crashing down on both of us…" He elucidated, trailing off as he waiting for a response to his risky plan.

Everyone was dumbstruck. "Wait WHAT? You can't do that!" Sonic exclaimed, grabbing ahold of the com-link headset.

"And why not? We have to or else die out here!" Raymond debated.

"But it's WAY too dangerous first of all! And you have no idea if you'll be able to make it there in time anyways!" Sonic argued.

"Then what do you supposed we do instead!" Raymond countered, trying to drive his point home. As everyone remained silent, he took that as a cue to speak up again. "There's absolutely nothing else we can do. The ceiling is literally dissolving and melting faster by the minute, and now some small shrapnel of ice are starting to fall down on us. You've got to trust us, we'll be fine! I'm worried about you guys though, Metal Raymond is headed your way. Make sure to keep on the lookout for him."

Sonic nodded and involuntarily gulped. "Okay, I trust you. You better start hurrying to Eggman's base now before it's too late."

Raymond laughed. "I was also wondering if you could call the mayor. I want him to be notified of the situation, and when you guys tunnel towards Mobius City, maybe he and his "army" along with you guys can back me up and attack Eggman."

Sonic managed and smirk/grin at the same time. "I'd like that actually, I'll make sure to give the mayor my regards."

Raymond laughed. "A-Ok, I really need to start running now as the ceiling is starting to fall apart, so… cya I guess.."

"Bye! Make sure to kick Eggman's rear for me willya?" Sonic jokingly asked.

"Cya! Take care!" Tails replied.

"Be careful! Don't get hurt!" Cosmo called out as the com-link headset went dead, leaving everyone worried and anxious about what to do now.


	15. Chapter 15

Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 61

9:12 am

Amy's House

RIIINGGG

…

"Hello?" The person on the other side of the phone was unmistakably the mayor of Mobius, as his slurred speech gave him away.

Sonic drew a quick breath. "It's me, Sonic." He replied as a matter-of-factly. "Can I talk with you about some things?"

"..." There was a slight pause until the mayor broke it.

"Well you know the situation over here in Mobius isn't so great…"

"Yeah." Sonic answered soberly. "I know. The blizzard has pretty much everyone trapped inside their homes, hasn't it?"

The mayor laughed again. "You have no idea how many distress phone calls I'm getting about people running out of food and other basic items, not to mention the electricity in most parts of the city has been knocked out. People are freezing cold, trapped, hungry, without any power or running water, and you're trying to start a conversation with me?" He joked lightly.

Sonic wasn't amused. "Listen," He sighed. "I know about that, and my friends and I can help you guys with your current dilemma. Tails has built a machine capable of drilling tunnels through the ice, and we're planning on heading over to Mobius as soon as possible."

"Great!" The mayor was obviously pleased and pleasantly surprised at the same time. "I'm glad to hear that! Why don't you get started now?"

"Well," Sonic hesitated. "We are, but while we're on our way, I want you to have your army ready and assembled. Or if that's not possible, then make sure to give them a call to be prepared because we're planning to attack Eggman. Raymond and Galaxina are trapped in his base, and they want us to provide backup in case anything goes wrong."

"Hmm…" The mayor gave a momentary pause before replying. "Alright, I see. I'll be expecting you shortly then!"

The phone went dead as their brief conversation ended, prompting Sonic to place the phone down in its place holder and leave the room to where the rest where situated in the living room. As Sonic made his silent appearance, he almost regretted it. There were all of his friends, talking peacefully and innocently with each other. Giving them the order to leave now would signal the beginning of another possible war against Eggman; though this time he wasn't sure if they could win. With Raymond and Galaxina's risky venture and the added stress of saving Mobius from the snowstorm not to mention Eggman plotting something big again and Metal Raymond on the prowl made Sonic feel as if this is where the beginning of the end would start…

"Hey guys," Sonic managed a small, tired smile as everyone in the room glanced up back at him and smiled in reply.

"Hey, Sonic! What did the mayor say?" Tails curiously asked.

"He said he'd be expecting us, so we should leave now." Sonic answered, drawing a groan from Knuckles.

"Now? But we've just-!" Knuckles started to complain, but was interrupted by a sharp glare from Sonic, prompting him to give off a frustrated sigh and cross his arms.

"Now you know the situation: Not only do we have to save Raymond and Galaxina, but help out in Mobius while watching out for Metal Raymond and his gang. And I have a feeling that's not all we're going to see from Eggman…" Sonic trailed off, staring off into space. Would they be able to do everything? He didn't know…

"Well let's get started then! There's absolutely no point in sitting around here and moping! If we want to get everything accomplished, we've got to start now!" Tails encouragingly shouted, drawing an admiring look from Cosmo and a joyful cheer from Cream.

Sonic smiled and nodded. "You know you'd make a great leader Tails.." he complemented, then turned back to face the rest. "Alright, so who's ready to beat Eggman again?"

Everyone cheered and applauded as they filed outside, led by Sonic. The Ice-Twister was waiting expectantly for them in the front of Amy's house, and as the Sonic team clambered inside and seated themselves in the seats, Tails took the controls with Cosmo by his side and flashed a grin and thumbs up back at the rest.

"Ready?" Tails revved up the engines, allowed the Ice-Twister to slowly turn around to face the front back down the foreboding passageway into the ice.

"Ready!" The Ice-Twister gave with a start, and blasted its way forwards, possibly one step closer to the end…

Mobius City

11:55 am

In a small house in the outskirts of Mobius was seated an ash-colored barn owl. The mayor of Mobius was sitting at his oaken desk surveying a few sheets of paper when all of a sudden the room seemed to vibrate.

"Hmm..?" He asked, when all of a sudden he heard the doorbell ring.

DING DONG

Startled, he curiously peeped down the hallway at the front door. The mayor rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Did the doorbell just actually ring?

He tentatively made his way, and cautiously opened the door to see Sonic and company on his front door step, completely covered in snow and ice flecks.

"Oh," The mayor tried his best not to act surprised. "Hello, I certainly didn't expect you guys to show up here!"

His dry comment drew a cheery laugh from everyone as the mayor motioned for them to stay outside and brush the snow off of their body before entering his home.

As Sonic entered the house, he immediately shook hands with the mayor as he patted Sonic on the shoulder. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise." The mayor replied and managed a pleasant smile. "By the way, you're in luck. Right before the blizzard occurred, right after I finished introducing my idea to start a city army, I decided to assemble a team and bring them to my home for a debriefing. Unfortunately, they were trapped, and since then I swear I've been eaten out of my own house. Tell me about feeding an army of 500 young men for a few days! We were just about out of supplies when you miraculously showed up!"

Sonic lightheartedly laughed. "They're here? That's.. That's great! That means we can get started already to go and save Raymond and Galaxina!"

The mayor nodded. "Yep, they're in the basement if you want to be introduced to your new team members. Here, I'll show you the way…" He turned around and led them down into his dim basement. As the Sonic team descended the wooden stairs, they were almost giddy with anticipation and excitement. No more would they have to rely on only themselves to fight Eggman! They would actually have a large, well-trained, well-armed team of soldiers to fight alongside them! Maybe they could actually win!

"Here you go!" The mayor led them around the corner past the flight of stairs and gestured to the group of young to middle aged anamorphic animals lounging about, doing mostly nothing. A few of them looked up at Sonic and friends, and gave a friendly wave or smile, but most of them were immersed in an epic game of goldfish in the center, a large group surrounding a circle of card players.

"Do… you.. have.. an 8?" A young, well-built, light-brown colored weasel spoke up, breaking the silence.

His friend, a slightly older dark-gray raccoon examined his cards, and shuffled them around a bit. "Nope, goldfish!"

The weasel was about to draw another card when he noticed there was none left. "Hey! Cheater!" He indignantly shouted as his friend laughed and threw his cards up in the air.

"Okay, okay you've got me! You win!" He surrendered helplessly as the mayor made his way through the crowd.

"Fun's over gentlemen! Time to meet your superiors!" He gestured towards Sonic and friends. Five-hundred pairs of eyes turned to glance at them, inspecting and examining them with curiosity. Most of them friendly, but the rest were too tired or apathetic to care.

"Hey," Sonic tentatively waved, expecting to be mobbed with fans. But thankfully that wasn't the case as they all scrambled to form a moderately organized line and saluted.

"Sir!" They put their right hand to their forehead, maintaining a stoic-like pose as Sonic nodded, impressed.

"Woah, you certainly did a good job!" Sonic complemented, surveying the group of soldiers in front of him. As he did so, the mayor turned to face Sonic.

"So what was it you wanted again? To take a field trip to Eggman's base and raze it to the ground? Even though at times I sometimes marvel at these soldiers' stupidity, I can definitely and undoubtedly call them loyal and fighters to their last breath!" The mayor proudly answered, giving the closest one a hearty pat on the shoulder under which he slightly winced.

Sonic grinned, but then faltered. "What about Mobius though? Don't we need to save them as well?"

Tails, quiet until now, spoke up. "I've actually thought of a plan for that, Sonic." He responded.

"Oh," Sonic answered. "What is it?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Well… I was thinking that while you, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream went off to fight Eggman along with the army, me and Cosmo could go around in the Ice-Twister and provide relief and rescue to the rest of Mobius City. That way we'd save a lot more time, and besides it's not like we'd do much anyways…"

Sonic nodded approval. "Okay, that's a good idea." He paused to check the clock on the far wall: 11:59 am. How were Raymond and Galaxina faring? "Sorry to rush you guys, but let's go now! It's been almost 3 hours since we've last contacted Raymond and Galaxina, and we have no idea if they're hurt, or worse…"

The mayor gestured at the group of arranged soldiers. "Take 'em away! They're all yours!" He hesitated for a moment. "Though I'd suggest if Tails and Cosmo are going to try to free Mobius, they'd need a helper…" He quickly looked at the group before singling out the light-brown weasel from before who was playing in the goldfish game. "Here, you come out here!"

The weasel cautiously stepped forwards and made his presence known in front of Sonic and company. "Uhh… hi?" He shyly replied and waved.

"His name is Collin. Generally shy and quiet, but mostly a good fighter and quick on his feet as well as being very resourceful and intelligent. I think he'd be a great help to Tails and Cosmo, if you don't mind." The mayor told Sonic, who shook his head in response.

"No, no, not at all! I'm sure he'd be a great help as well." As Collin, Tails, and Cosmo exchanged friendly glances and smiles, Sonic turned to the mayor.

"Is that it then?" He asked.

Here, the mayor appeared to cringe slightly. "Ah, well, not yet. You see, I had… another… volunteer. But I think you might want to meet her first…"

"Her?" Was all Sonic had time to asked before out of the corner, a shadowy figure emerged, revealing herself in the dim light to be…

"Oh… no…" Knuckles breathed under his breath in disbelief.

"Hi Knuckie!" Rogue blew a kiss flirtingly and waved.

"I… uhh.. I'll be upstairs in case anyone wants me!" Knuckles sped up the stairs before anyone could see his beet-red embarrassed face.

"Rogue? What are you doing here?" Sonic asked in bewilderment.

"Exactly what it looks like! I'm here to fight against Eggman too!" Rogue dryly replied.

sub "You sure that isn't because you want to get your hands on any chaos emeralds…?" /sub Tails muttered under his breath. Unfortunately Rogue heard him and gasped, seemingly offended at that thought.

"Me? Stealing any chaos emeralds? Pffff!" She waved it off with a flick of her hand. Already, Sonic was worried whether or not this was a good idea…

"I couldn't care LESS about those useless pieces of jewelry! All I really want is some simple, down-to-earth revenge against Eggman! Nothing more!" She nonchalantly answered.

Sonic sighed. "Well…" He turned to the rest of his friends, but seeing no apparent response, he turned back to face Rogue. "Okay you're a part of our team. As long as you don't try any-"

"Me? You don't have to worry about a thing hun!" Rogue winked and devilishly smiled.

Sonic rolled his eyes as Tails, Cosmo, and Collin started to make their way up the stairs back to the Ice-Twister.

"Well I'm going to leave now and see if I can bring some relief to the rest of Mobius, Sonic! Good luck in your battle against Eggman!" Tails called out.

Sonic waved goodbye. "Good luck to you too Tails!"

That was the last they saw of the three as they disappeared upstairs. A few moments later, they heard the front door open, and slam shut, signaling that Tails, Cosmo, and Collin were gone.

The mayor turned to face Sonic. "Well, aren't you leaving too? Or were you going to talk some more with me?"

Sonic snapped out of his cloudy thoughts and shook his head. "No, no, I'm going!" He turned to look at the group of soldiers and his friends, all staring at him expectantly.

Sonic sighed. "Well, this is it then! Most of you've known Eggman since you were little as a tyrant; a bringing of destruction and chaos. Well, no more! Not today! Today, we make our final stand against him to eradicate his evil once and for all! Today we bring this to an end! Let's goo!"

As they broke out cheering and applauding, Sonic managed a small smile. So the beginning of the end has started…

END OF PART 3

END OF "MOBIUS: THE FINAL STAND"


End file.
